The second ODI between India and New Zealand at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot took an unfortunate turn for the visitors when Jayden Lennox suffered an injury.
Virat Kohli’s bullet shot leaves Jayden Lennox bloodied
After New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell won the toss and opted to field, India’s opening pair of Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma navigated a slow start, scoring just 10 runs in the first five overs. The duo eventually found their rhythm, putting together a 70-run partnership before Rohit was dismissed for 24. This brought Virat Kohli to the crease, setting the stage for the incident that sidelined Lennox.
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The injury occurred during the 18th over as Lennox attempted to stop a powerful drive from Kohli. Diving to his left to intercept the ball, the fielder slid across the side pitch, severely injuring his left palm in the process. The impact left Lennox bleeding on the field, forcing him to exit the game for immediate medical attention. It was a disappointing setback for the player, who had been performing impressively on his international debut by conceding only 18 runs across his first five overs.
However, Kohli was soon sent to pavillion after Kris Clarke shattered India's batting superstar's stumps in the 24th over. Kohli ended up scoring 23 off 29 riding on two boundaries. After Kohli's dismissal, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul steadied India's boat. At the end of 33.1 overs India were placed at 156/4 with Rahul and Jadeja still on the crease at 18* and 21*.
Earlier, after winning the toss, New Zealand captain said Michael Bracewell said:
“We are gonna have a bowl first. Looks a great surface here. Hopefully dew comes into play and it skids on later. We gave ourselves a chance to win it late with a couple of late wickets. Different conditions here, add 40,000 fans that are screaming for one team, certainly a bit of challenge. We are looking forward to the challenge. Jayden Lennox is coming in and making his debut.”
Meanwhile, India skipper Shubman Gill, after losing the toss, said:
“We would have batted first. Yesterday there was no dew. It might get a bit slower. I was feeling very confident when I was batting out there, very happy to always contribute. Hopefully it's a big one today. They started off pretty well, how we came back was very important. The fast bowlers taking wickets in the middle overs is a bit rare in these conditions. Nitish comes in place of Washington”.
India's Playing XI:
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
New Zealand's Playing XI:
Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Jayden Lennox, Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson.