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

New Zealand finally had something to cheer for after winning a close game in the second ODI as they tasted their first victory of the tour. India on the other hand, could take plenty of positives despite the loss with the youngster Hardik Pandya fighting till the end along with the tail-enders.

New Zealand continued the trend of losing the tosses as they called the wrong side of the coin for the 6th time in a row and was put into bat first. India retained the side from the previous two games whereas Kiwis dropped Anton Devcich to bring in James Neesham who justified his selection with a wonderful innings of 57 runs to resurrect the struggling innings.

New Zealand was going strong in the first innings and at one stage was 153/3 in the 29th over and looked all set for a big score. But then a collapse hit them as they lost 5 wickets for 46 runs and were tottering at 199/8. Neesham then rose to the occasion and added 84 runs for the 9th wicket with Matt Henry who also played a useful cameo of 39 runs and the duo took their team to a commendable total of 285.

India did not have a great start to the innings as both the openers were back in the hut inside 9 overs. But then the two best batsmen in the side Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni had a superlative partnership and put up an absolute master class. Kohli scored the second highest score of his ODI career as India won the match by seven wickets having 10 balls to spare.

Here are the Indian player ratings from the match as India took a 2-1 lead in the 5-match series:

Rohit Sharma – 3/10:

The form of the Indian opener in the series has been a worrying sign for India as he had failed in the first two ODIs. He had been guilty of throwing his wicket away to lazy shots after getting the feel of the pitch and this innings was not too different either.

He started off well striking two boundaries in the first over but then got into a shell and played a lot of dot balls. Tim Southee accounted for his wicket in the 9th over as the right-hander departed for 13 runs off 21 balls. The mode of dismissal was similar to that in the first ODI as he was looking to play across the line of a straight delivery and got trapped in front of the wickets.

Also read- India v New Zealand, 3rd ODI Review: Kohli, Dhoni ensure a smooth victory for India