India 385 for 9 (Gill 112, Rohit 101, Duffy 3-100) vs New Zealand
New Zealand restricted India to 385. You read it right. During the 212-run opening stand at over eight runs an over, India looked set to have a shot at the first 500 in ODIs. Two double-centuries in an innings didn’t look out of reach either, as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill brought up their hundreds in the 26th over. However, once the slower balls started to grip, New Zealand’s bowlers improved their analysis as India scored 173 for 8 in the last 24 overs.
What perhaps helped New Zealand’s comeback was that India’s incoming batters tried to bat in a manner that would do justice to the start, thus taking risks that perhaps the slowed-down pitch didn’t merit. For Rohit and Gill blazed away effortlessly in the first 26. They had hit 22 fours and 10 sixes by then. When they batted, the pitch looked too flat, the ground too small and the outfield too quick.
Pushes went away for fours, mis-hits sailed for sixes, and they…