India’s stand-in ODI captain Shikhar Dhawan said that though the 50-over series was a dud due to rain there were many learnings for the young stars in the squad, after the third ODI at Christchurch got rained out which resulted in New Zealand winning the series 1-0, having won the 1st ODI in Auckland.
India had a chance to equalize the series in Christchurch after the second ODI was rained off. Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bowl first at the Hagley Oval. India went in with the same XI they had picked for the second match.
India posted 219 runs with Washington Sundar with 51 and Shreyas Iyer with 49 being the top scorers. For New Zealand, Adam Milne (3/57) and Daryl Mitchell (3/25) were the picks of bowlers.
In reply, New Zealand were 104/1 in 18 overs with Finn Allen having been dismissed for 57 runs and Devon Conway on 38*. However, rains came down pouring with just 2 overs left for a full match to be constituted.
In the end, the match was called off and New Zealand won the 3-match series 1-0. Tom Latham was named the Player of the Series for his 145* in the first ODI in Auckland.
During the post-match presentation, India captain Shikhar Dhawan said: “Absolutely, going to Bangladesh, hopefully the weather will be better there. We are a young unit. The bowling unit learnt about bowling the good length area more. We were short at times.”
“All the seniors are going to be back in the side. More Asian wickets is a more practical journey to the World Cup for us. Important to get the small things right – right lengths for the bowlers, batting close to the body in these conditions for the batters… these are the learnings.”
India’s next limited-overs assignment will be the three-match ODI series in Bangladesh which begins on December 4.
(Prime Video inputs)
