New Zealand captain for the India ODI series, Michael Bracewell, has bowled an extremely economical spell in Rajkot and turned the tables for New Zealand with the breakthrough wicket of Ravindra Jadeja, after he, alongside KL Rahul, had added 70+ runs for India.
Indian batters have not had their usual gala time in Rajkot, after the Kiwi skipper Michael Bracewell sent them in to bat first in the second ODI. The New Zealand bowlers have done everything, hitting the right spots, keeping sublime accuracy on their line and length, and showing some remarkable control.
Michael Bracewell gets Ravindra Jadeja in a softest of dismissals
Ravindra Jadeja, the left-handed batter, came out to bat for India at no. 6 after Virat Kohli was dismissed, unfortunately, when he chopped a delivery back into the stumps. Going slowly and calmly, Jadeja, the veteran all-rounder, built a strong partnership with KL Rahul.
However, after the partnership had gone past some considerable runs and the two had their eyes set on the ball, Michael Bracewell returned to dismiss Jadeja is one of the softest dismissals cricket has ever witnessed.
The all-rounder looked to run down a ball outside the off-stump towards the long-on region and instead popped it up as Bracewell took a comfortable catch diving to his left. Jadeja was dismissed for 27 runs, which brought Nitish Kumar Reddy on the pitch. This was Jadeja’s first-ever caught and bowled dismissal in his ODI career.
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Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul pulled back India’s innings with a 5th wicket partnership
India’s first productive partnership came between the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and the captain Shubman Gill, who added 70 runs for the first wicket. Ever since then, they have been looking forward to partnerships but have failed to make it count.
When the Men in Blue looked on the verge of a collapse after Virat Kohli’s dismissal, Ravindra Jadeja, the 140-match veteran in ODIs, added 73 runs alongside KL Rahul for the 5th wicket partnership. Though Rahul was the main batter to play the aggressor, Jadeja too kept his composure and rotated the strike with ease.
The partnership helped India survive, while Rahul kept adding runs and then went on to build another partnership with the batter at no. 7, Nitish Kumar Reddy.
KL Rahul plays a stupendous knock to aid the Indian innings
KL Rahul, the Indian wicket-keeper batter, played the finisher when India chased down the 301-run target with an unbeaten 29* off 21 balls and has played a completely different innings in the second game.
Rahul has paced his innings perfectly, as he started slightly slow and then immediately accelerated whenever he got to free his hands. Not only did Rahul reach another personal milestone, but he also took India to a respectable total, which looked very much defendable from their point of view.
However, KL Rahul was nearing his eighth ODI century as India was nearing the 300-run mark at the time of writing, which once looked absolutely impossible to attain, but with due credit to the batter, the Men in Blue have come a long way round.
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