India beat New Zealand by 90 runs, lead the series 2-0
Indian flags whirled around Bay Oval in New Zealand as the Men in Blue beat the Black Caps by 90 runs thereby leading the series 2-0. Rohit Sharma was adjudged as the man of the match for a well made 87 of 96 deliveries.
In reply to India's total of 324, New Zealand only managed to make 234 and were bowled out in 40.2 overs.
The start of the day saw the Indian openers share their 14th-century stand. It was only in the 26th over that Shikhar Dhawan edged one to the keeper and the 154-run opening stand was broken.
Rohit Sharma departed soon after and missed out on what was shaping up to be a classic hitman hundred. Virat Kohli and Ambati Rayudu made sure no further damage was done and played with a mix of both caution and aggression. Both the batsmen perished in their 40s in a bid to up the ante.
MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav provided the much-needed boost at the end of the Indian innings with the former scoring 48 of 33 deliveries and latter a brisk 22 of 10. New Zealand was set a target of 325 to win the game and level the series.
The Black Caps couldn't really get going at any point in time. The Indian bowlers chipped in with wickets at regular intervals. The middle order again couldn't apply themselves against the wrist-spin of Kuldeep Yadav.
Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal shared 6 wickets between them with the former bagging a 4-fer. Jadhav too chipped in with the wicket of the in-form Ross Taylor which saw MS Dhoni uprooting the bails in his typical style.
Doug Bracewell played attacking innings lower down the order, making 57 off 46 deliveries. But the lack of support at the other end meant that New Zealand eventually succumbed to a 90-run defeat.
The 3rd ODI is set to be played at the same venue on 28th of January.