New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner described the Wellington surface as a "tricky wicket" following his side's narrow four-run defeat via the DLS method to India in the second ODI on Saturday (November 7).
The game saw a stark difference from India's comfortable chase in the series opener. Rain reduced the match to 47 overs a side, creating a treacherous environment for batters.
India's pace attack dominated yet again, bundling out the hosts for just 134 after putting them in to bat. Gurnoor Brar was the standout with four wickets, while Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj and Axar Patel picked up two each. Daryl Mitchell slammed a fighting half-century (55 off 104) for the Kiwis.
In reply, the Men in Blue got off to a terrible start, losing captain Shubman Gill for a golden duck and Virat Kohli for 7. Despite wickets falling at regular intervals, cameos from Rohit Sharma (23), Shreyas Iyer (30) and KL Rahul (26*) saw the visitors reach 113/7 in 26 overs, when the heavens opened again.
Speaking after the game, Santner admitted that getting bowled out for 134 left them short. He believed even "scraping to 160 or 180" would have given his bowlers a massive winning chance on that track.
"It was one of those wickets where the seamers looked pretty challenging on. I know Axar bowled quite nicely, but the Indian quicks were in and around it as well, and they all bowled pretty well. [Lessons from the match] As a batting unit, we know it was going to be a tricky surface. But even if there was a potential way of scraping to 160 or 180, we could have gone from there. But yeah, I think they bowled well as well, and obviously, with the weather around, it is always going to be a bit tough to start, and they exploited it very well," Santner said at the post-match presentation.
He commended the bowling attacks of both teams for exploiting the seam-friendly and uneven conditions to the maximum.
"It was a tricky wicket. There is no hiding it. I think they (India) bowled really well, especially at the top, challenged us, and obviously, wickets at the start are never ideal. But I think we were still probably a little bit under at the halfway stage, knowing that there was still a little bit in it, which was nice. And the boys bowled really well," Santner remarked.
Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy troubled the Indian batters, claiming three wickets each. The Kiwi skipper said his bowlers understood that taking wickets at regular intervals was important while defending a below-par total and did a good job of keeping India on the back foot.
"Like we said at Eden Park, it would have been easy for us to just go out there and expect things to happen. But we bowled really well. We started well, and I guess the only way to get into that target was to take wickets at the top. We managed to do that, and then I think the guys coming back in, spell after spell, managed to get the breakthroughs throughout, which is key in ODI cricket," Santner remarked.
With this victory, India gained a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. The third ODI will be played in Hamilton on November 10.
