No result India 219 (Washington 51, Iyer 49, Mitchell 3-25, Milne 3-57) vs New Zealand 104 for 1 (Allen 57, Conway 38*, Malik 1-31)
Arshdeep Singh, bowling the second over of the chase, bowled a maiden where he troubled Devon Conway by moving the ball both ways. But Allen couldn’t be contained at the other end and, gradually, Conway also got going, even hitting four fours in a Deepak Chahar over. It helped New Zealand race to 59 without loss in ten overs.
Gill, who got off the mark after facing 11 dots, struck two fours – a delectable drive through extra cover followed by a front-foot pull through midwicket – before flicking one to forward square-leg to hand Milne his first wicket. Milne, in for Michael Bracewell in the XI, then got Dhawan playing one on via the inside edge following another slink down the wicket. In between, though, he grassed Iyer at deep third.
Iyer and Rishabh Pant steadied the ship for a while without really getting any momentum going. Iyer looked assured, timing his cuts and punches through the off side well while also not shying away from the heaves to the leg side. But Mitchell, who had only one ODI wicket before Wednesday, prised out Pant with a short one before Suryakumar Yadav edged one to slip off Milne for the second time in the series.
Iyer, who looked set to score his second half-century of the series, then sliced one only for Devon Conway to take a sharp catch running in from sweeper cover. At 121 for 5, India were in tatters.
When Deepak Hooda fell with India on 149, they were in danger of being way short of the 200-run mark. But Washington showed his batting chops for the second time in the series – following his unbeaten 16-ball 37 in the first ODI – and added good runs with the tail before becoming the last man to fall.
The total looked well short of par, and New Zealand looked good to hunt it down. However, the rain ensured that we will never know if an unexpected result was in the offing.
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