India v New Zealand, 3rd ODI - India Player Ratings

It was a fitting finish to an exciting contest between two very competitive sides. When New Zealand arrived in India for the 3-match ODI series, very few gave them a chance to be competent enough against the mighty hosts. The men in blue had been in a rampaging form in the lead up to the series and were expected to run rout the Kiwis.

However, the Kiwis stunned the hosts in the first ODI. The Indian side showed great character to come back with a win in the Pune ODI to set up the final game as the decider. The final ODI at Kanpur went down to the wire and was an absolute humdinger contest. Eventually, the hosts came out on top but the Kiwi spirit prevailed too.

In the match, team India were bolstered to a high total of 337 owing to magnificent tons from skipper Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma. In the run chase, the Kiwi batsmen got brisk starts but none could play the guiding knock in the chase. Eventually, the Indian side eked out a narrow 6 run win to seal the series 2-1. It was a thorough team effort for the hosts against the highly competitive opposition.

Here are the India Player Ratings for the match:

Shikhar Dhawan – 2/10

Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan had an off time at the crease in the match. He had scored a very well timed fifty in the previous game and arrived in to the game riding on the same confidence. However, he could not translate his good form in the match and perished for a low score. He scored 14 in the 20 deliveries that he faced on the day.

Rohit Sharma – 9.5/10

Rohit Sharma arrived in to the game with great expectations. He was one the few Indian batsmen who failed to score runs in the series prior to this game. He certainly silenced all critics with a thundering 147 to his name. He looked set for yet another double ton in ODIs but threw it away with as many as 10 overs to go in the match. Rohit’s whirlwind knock saw him hit 18 fours and a couple of sixes. He was a complete entertainer on the day.

Virat Kohli – 9.5/10

Virat Kohli continued his ominous run with the bat in the series. He scored his second century of the series, his 10th as the Indian captain, and his 32nd overall in ODIs. Kohli looked in sublime form with the bat and scored a brilliant 113 off just 106 deliveries with 9 fours and a six. He was unfortunate to have thrown his wicket away towards the end of the innings in an attempt to accelerate the score.

Hardik Pandya – 2/10

Hardik Pandya had a rare off time in the middle on the day. Neither could he impress with the ball, nor could he show spirit with the bat. With the base well set, Pandya arrived at the crease after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. He was promoted at number 4 to go all guns blazing but could only manage to hit a solitary boundary on the day. With the ball, he leaked 47 runs in 5 overs.

MS Dhoni – 5/10

Wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni was promoted to number 5 in the match. Seeing a firm launchpad for the big shots, the management thought of promoting Dhoni ahead of Jadhav and Dinesh Karthik. Dhoni scored 25 off 17 deliveries and perished towards the final overs. Behind the stumps, he managed to pocket a key catch in the match.

Kedar Jadhav – 4/10

Kedar Jadhav came in to bat at a time when the team needed some fireworks at the end. He tried his best and came up with 18 off just 10 balls. Later in the game, he was used quite a lot by the skipper for his bowling abilities. He bowled 8 overs in the match but failed to pick up a wicket. He leaked 54 runs in the 8 overs that he bowled.

Dinesh Karthik – 3/10

Dinesh Karthik was the hero of the match for team India in the previous game. His services were largely not needed in this particular game. With very few overs left when the second wicket fell down, Karthik was not sent in at number 4. He arrived at the crease after the dismissal of MS Dhoni and got only 3 balls to face, in which, he scored 4 runs.

Axar Patel – 4/10

Axar Patel did nothing wrong in the previous game, as quoted by Sunil Gavaskar during the match, and hence retained his place in the side ahead of Kuldeep Yadav. At the same time, he did nothing wrong in this match either. However, he did not impress with the ball. He bowled 7 overs in the game and gave away 40 runs with no wickets to show against his name.

Yuzvendra Chahal – 8.5/10

Yuzvendra Chahal bowled exceptionally well on the day. The New Zealand batsmen were going great guns with Kane Williamson and Colin Munro threatening to take the game away with individual fifties. India needed some inspiration and Chahal provided it by dismissing both the set batsmen. He returned with highly impressive figures of 2/47 in his quota of 10 overs.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 3/10

Over the last few months, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has emerged as the premier Indian pacer in the limited overs cricket. His strength has been controlling the run flow. However, in this game, he was taken away for aplenty. He leaked as many as 92 runs in his spell. It was a rare off day at work for the ever so economical Bhuvneshwar. He managed to dismissed the dangerous looking Henry Nicholls towards the end of the innings.

Jasprit Bumrah – 9/10

The final ODI was definitely a graveyard for the bowlers. None of the bowlers could stop the run flow or at least show signs of having a control over it. Amidst this backdrop, Jasprit Bumrah bowled a brilliant spell of fast bowling and gave away runs at less than 5 runs per over. He returned with figures of 3/47 in his quota of 10 overs. He bagged the key wickets of Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill. He defended 15 in the final over of the match.