Cricket history: When the Indian team proudly sported their mothers' name on jerseys
29th October, 2016. New Zealand and India were all set to play the final ODI of the series with the series tied at 2-2. A jam-packed Vizag crowd was ready to witness this epic clash and the Men in Blue made the occasion more special by sporting their mothers' name on the jerseys.
This was the first time in sports history that the players of a team were wearing shirts with their mothers' name on their back. The entire nation fell in awe of this gesture which was executed in association with the 'Nayi Soch' initiative of Star India.
Both the teams stood for the national anthem first -
India batted first in the decider and the top order batsmen, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli took the team to a comfortable position by hitting a half-century each. MS Dhoni too played a vital knock of 41 runs to take the team's total to 190. Kedar Jadhav and Axar Patel's quickfire cameos in the end ensured that the home team give New Zealand a target of 270 runs.
A lot of fans backed the Kiwis to take the series home as they had earlier chased down totals exceeding the 270 mark. However, the Indian boys had the blessings of their mothers as they bowled the entire opposition out for mere 79 runs. It took the bowlers only 23.1 overs to take the wickets of all the Kiwi batsmen.
Amit Mishra was the wrecker-in-chief amongst the bowlers as he finished with a five-wicket haul. New Zealand succumbed to their fifth lowest ODI total in cricket history as they lost the match by a humongous margin of 190 runs.
The Indian team was clearly the better side on the field as they completely outplayed the visitors and took the series home 3-2. It seemed like all the players played with more intent and a wave of positivity was running through the Indian team that day.