Sports New Zealand steals a thriller against India

[urpussysucker]

New Zealand steals a thriller against India
Kiwis' first ODI win versus India on tour in 13 years helps them level series 1-1

MS Dhoni walks off after being dismissed

Kane Williamson made a magnificent century as New Zealand claimed their first one-day international win in India for 13 years with a dramatic six-run victory at Feroz Shah Kotla to level the series at 1-1.

Black Caps captain Williamson led by example with a sublime 118 from 128 balls, enabling the tourists to post 242-9 in Delhi on Thursday.

Hardik Pandya (36 off 32) and Umesh Yadav (18 not out) combined for a ninth-wicket stand of 49 to give India hope, but they were all out for 236 when Tim Southee (3-52) bowled Jasprit Bumrah in the last over to give New Zealand their first victory of a difficult tour.

Williamson almost singlehandedly guided New Zealand to a respectable total, putting on 120 for the second wicket with Tom Latham (46) to allow the Black Caps to recover from the loss of Martin Guptill to a second-ball duck, bowled by Umesh Yadav (1-42).

But when surviving opener Latham was, arguably somewhat harshly, given out lbw to Kedar Jadhav (1-11), Williamson was short of regular partners.

Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson made 21 apiece, Amit Mishra (3-60) accounting for both, with the former caught by Rohit Sharma on the boundary at deep midwicket, while Corey Anderson became another lbw victim.

Mishra also claimed the crucial scalp of Williamson, ending his entertaining resistance with a shorter ball that drew a lofted drive to Ajinkya Rahane at long-on, leaving New Zealand 213-5 in the 43rd over.

No Black Caps batsman made more than 10 after that, with Southee going for the second duck of the innings and Bumrah (3-35) cleaning up much of the tail before the Kiwis ran out of overs.

Some wasteful batting meant India had no major contributors in reply, with none of the hosts' top order managing a half century despite plenty of opportunities.

Jadhav and skipper MS Dhoni came closest with 41 and 39 respectively, the latter falling caught and bowled to the sharp reflexes of Southee.

Several starts were squandered by India's specialists, openers Rohit Sharma (15) and Rahane (28) among those guilty of failing to build after getting settled.

The same was true of Manish Pandey (19) and Axar Patel (17), as Southee and Guptill (2-6) led the way with the ball for the visitors, as Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult and Matt Henry also chipped in with wickets.

Pandya and Yadav threatened to deny New Zealand an elusive win on tour, but the former was caught in the deep off the impressive Boult (2-25) in the penultimate over and Southee yorked Bumrah to silence a lively crowd.

The third game of the five-match series takes place in Mohali on Sunday.