Daryl Mitchell’s hundred upstages KL Rahul’s effort as New Zealand level ODI series with seven-wicket win

Daryl Mitchell (IANS Photo)

RAJKOT: Daryl Mitchell made KL Rahul’s rescue act look like a mere prologue. After India were lifted to 284/7 by Rahul’s unbeaten 112, Mitchell scored an unbeaten 131 to power New Zealand to 286/3 in 47.3 overs, sealing a seven-wicket win in the second ODI at the Niranjan Shah Stadium on Wednesday and squaring the three-match series 1-1. Mitchell (117b; 11x4, 2x6) and Will Young (87 off 98b; 7x4) weathered tight bowling by India’s new-ball bowlers and capitalised against the spinners. The chase was set up by Mitchell’s eighth ODI century, which was his third against India and first in a winning cause. The win sets up an intriguing decider at Indore’s Holkar Stadium on Sunday.

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After KL Rahul’s (92 balls; 11x4, 1x6) eighth three-figure score set the visitors 285 to level the series, pacers Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana bowled an incisive spell with the new ball, in which odd boundaries were interspersed with the ball beating the bat. While southpaw Devon Conway (16) began with three crisply struck fours, Rana induced an edge off his bat that fell short of Rahul before a nip-backer rattled his stumps. Conway’s fellow opener, Henry Nicholls, was tied down at the other end, and a bid to break the shackles against Prasidh Krishna saw him get an inside edge onto his stumps. At 46/2 in 12.4 overs, India had an opening, but that was quickly shut by the Mitchell-Young duo. The 34-year-old Mitchell disrupted the rhythm of the Indian bowlers with proactive stroke play and mixed it with ones and twos. He employed the reverse sweep against left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and the conventional sweep against left-arm orthodox Ravindra Jadeja, stopping them from settling into bowling in one area. He began with a lofted six over long on off Nitish Reddy, whose inclusion as an allrounder again raised questions, with only two overs to his name. Mitchell hoicked Yadav over mid-wicket for a six and batted with perfection akin to surgical precision. A blip in his innings was a hoick straight down the ground on 80, which was shelled by Prasidh. Earlier, asked to bat first, Indian batters displayed rare indiscretion with shot selection and failed to maximise the good batting conditions on offer, putting the onus of run-making on the middle and lower order. Rahul and the all-rounders rose to the occasion to help India post 284/7. Rahul added 73 with Jadeja (27 off 44 balls) for the fifth wicket and 57 with Reddy (20 off 21b) for the sixth to haul India from 118/4 in the 24th over to 284. New Zealand, though, delivered a masterclass in bowling on a slow and sluggish yet batting-friendly wicket in the early and middle overs. STATS 286/3 - New Zealand have recorded their highest successful chase (target 285) vs India in ODIs in India, bettering the 284/4 (target 281) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Oct 22, 2017. 1 - New Zealand have recorded their first win after suffering eight successive losses vs India in India in ODIs. Their last win before Wednesday vs India was by 7 wickets in Auckland on Nov 25, 2022. 1 - For the first time, a team has registered a win while chasing successfully in ODIs in Rajkot. 131 - Daryl Mitchell’s century is his third vs India and his 8th in ODIs

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