New Zealand vs India 2014 - 3rd ODI: Which of the two teams will rue not winning the game?

Will the ‘tie’ prove costly come the end of the series?

There’s no scepticism that yesterday’s game at the Eden Park in Auckland was a humdinger of a contest, and at the end of it all, New Zealand still find themselves 2-0 up, leaving India with 2 must-win games to level the series. But, which of the two teams will repent not getting a result in their favour?

New Zealand, for most part of the game looked the better side, and by some margin, Team India though were not quite at it. Mohammed Shami had a woeful day with the ball, and to further compound our bowling frailties, the inclusion of Varun Aaron in place of Ishant Sharma didn’t quite make the difference you’d expect.

On the other hand, New Zealand were kind of restricted to 314 all-out, albeit reaching 209/3 at the end of 35 overs.

Needing 315 to stay alive in the series, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got the Indian innings off to the kind of start that was missing in the first couple of games in the series. Rohit Sharma (Hit-man), contrasting to his approach in previous games, meant business and took the initiative of going after the New Zealand new ball bowlers, while Dhawan stood and watched the ‘Hit-man’ show from the non-striker’s end.

The Indian openers raced to 64/0 at the end of 9 overs, and just for a moment you thought that this was finally going to be India’s day and game. But, the injection of Corey Anderson into the bowling attack bulldozed any such hopes as India collapsed to 15/4 in the space of 8 and a bit overs. Virat Kohli, unusually fell cheaply for 6. Suresh Raina joined MS Dhoni in the middle at 79/4, and New Zealand were totally in command of the proceedings.

Suresh Raina played with intent, and together with Dhoni, put on a 67-run stand for the 5th wicket. As has been the case right throughout this tour, India lost the wicket of Suresh Raina just as they were consolidating the innings, and at 146-5, the game seemed to be done and dusted for New Zealand.

Contrasting to expectations, Ashwin was promoted in the batting order ahead of Jadeja, and at the end of the game, he vindicated the Indian think-tank’s faith in his batting capabilities with a priceless 65. Ashwin played with ease and did the right thing of giving Dhoni the bulk of the strike, but Dhoni, having lost Suresh Raina was trapped in a catch-22 situation. He was struggling to make a decent contact with the ball, and the asking run-rate was rising at the rate of knots.

The Indian captain racked up yet another ODI half-century with a six off Corey Anderson, and looked to shift gears from there on. The very next delivery was a half-tracker from Corey Anderson, and the rising ball had Dhoni playing a vicious pull-shot, only for Southee to pluck the ball out of the air. This moment in the game, for me, summed up India’s tour so far.

With Dhoni’s departure, New Zealand were already envisaging something that they’d have never ever dreamed of, a series win against this Indian side. But with Ashwin being promoted ahead of him in the batting order, Jadeja was taunted to make a statement for himself. At 184/6, and India needing to go at 9 runs to an over, it had to be a miracle for New Zealand to lose and spoil all the hard work they had put in to go 2-0 up in the series.

Jadeja played audaciously, and Ashwin played his classical game of deft touches and dabs over fine-leg and third-man, game on it was. This duo complemented each other very well, and New Zealand’s ground fielding wasn’t quite up to its mark. They missed a catch and a stumping chance off Jadeja and Ashwin respectively, and Brendon McCullum was found scratching his head in disappointment.