India beat New Zealand in 1st ODI: Kohli continues his form

Virat Kohli's sparkling century helped India script a 40-run win against an injury-hit New Zealand in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series here on. Stand-in skipper Ross Taylor top-scored for the Kiwis with a fighting 66 from 69 balls studded with three sixes and three boundaries. At 169 for eight, New Zealand looked to give up easily but Nathan McCullum (35 from 35 balls, 4x4) and Kyle Mills (32 from 28 balls, 2x4, 2x6) produced a 67-run ninth wicket stand to give India some tough time in the middle.But Sreesanth (three for 67) broke the partnership dismissing Nathan and Mills with te former being brilliantly caught by skipper Gambhir as India won the match with 28 balls to spare.Under intense scrutiny, Yuvraj Singh failed with the bat but he was really effective with his bowling claiming three for 43 from his full quota of 10 overs, while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took a career-best three for 50 to help India take the series lead.

Thanks to a compact 105 by in-form Kohli, the new look Indian side under Gautam Gambhir put on 276 as they were bowled out in 49 overs after the hosts were sent in to bat. Fresh from his back-to-back centuries in Ranji Trophy, the Delhi lad played a neat and chanceless knock from 104 balls with 10 boundaries for his second consecutive and fourth overall one-day century. But Kohli's dismissal brought in a stunning Indian collapse as the lower-order managed 26 runs from last six overs something that exposed the new look side's inexperience at this level. At 250/4 in the 44th over, with Kohli going great guns, a total in excess of 300 looked within easy reach but it was not the case after the centurion's dismissal by Andy McKay.But New Zealand fought back with a planned and calculated bowling in the fag-end especially by left-arm seamer McKay who returned with a career-best figures of 10-1-62-4. New ball bowlers Kyle Mills and Daryl Tuffey claimed three for 42 and two for 56 respectively.

With no McCullum, the New Zealand openers of Jamie How and Martin Guptill lacked the firepower as the visitors were slow and cautious to start with. Nehra broke the opening stand for 32 scalping How (9) as his partner Guptill, after being dropped twice by Murali Vijay, did not last long departing for 30. Stand-in skipper Taylor held the fort even as wickets kept falling in at the other end with Yuvraj doing a great job for India with his slow left-arm orthodox spin. Taylor and Kane Williamson (19) looked good during their 67-run third wicket stand but Yuvraj did not let the partneship going.Just when Taylor was beginning to look dangerous with his towering sixes, Ashwin gave the crucial breakthrough as New Zealand were reduced to 154 for seven after 33.3 overs.

Earlier Kiwi new ball bowlers, Mills and Tuffey, extracted some fine seam movements early on as openers Vijay (29 from 32 balls, 5x4) and Gambhir (38 from 38 balls, 6x4) survived some anxious moments in the early morning start. The Indian duo however did not look under any pressure in absence of Virender Sehwag as they stitched 44 for the opening wicket before Vijay was done in by Tuffey with wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins taking a brilliant catch running backwards. Kohli settled soon his second-wicket partnership of 48 did not last long with Gambhir falling in a soft dismissal to McKay. Due for a big knock, Yuvraj was slow and watchful to start that saw India scoring just 17 in the five overs in the bowling powerplay from 10-15 overs. Having consumed 28 balls for his first eight runs, Yuvraj opened up to the New Zealand spin attack that missed Vettori sorely as Nathan McCullum and Kane Williamson bowled their conventional off-breaks.

Kohli, meanwhile, raced to his ninth half-century in a rather nondescript way but he ensured that they were on track for a big total. In their 88-run stand for the third wicket, Kohli was compact and flexible in rotating the strike while Yuvraj looked to score in boundaries before he edged one behind the stumps. A jaded Suresh Raina (13, 1x4) continued with his poor Test run into the ODIs, as the southpaw lasted 18 balls before becoming Mills' victim. After Kohli's dismissal for 250 in the last ball of 44th over, the Indian inexperience showed as the lower order collapsed.

Yusuf Pathan played a cameo of 29 from 19 balls laced with three fours and one six, as debutant Wriddhiman Saha (4), Ravichandran Ashwin (0), Ashish Nehra (0) and Sreesanth (1) were dismissed cheaply. But the total was enough to rattle New Zelanders who missed their regular skipper Vettori and opener McCullum badly to trail in the five-match series 0-1.

India have rested their star performers including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh who were not considered due to injury concerns.

India v New Zealand 1st ODI at Guwahati

India play New Zealand in the first Test ODI at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. This is a part of the five match series after the Test series was won by India 1-0. India had won the previous series against New Zealand in New Zealand 3-1 and have never lost an ODI series at home to the Kiwis. However, it must be said that the New Zealand side has run the Indians close of many occasions and with a young team that India goes in with, things could get interesting.

Watch the India v New Zealand, 1st ODI live on Neo Cricket. Also watch the India v New Zealand, 1st ODI highlights on the same channel after the game.

With New Zealand going into the game after losing their last ODI series to Bangladesh 4-0, it will need them to display the same spirit that they had in the Test series to be able to put a couple across the Indian side.

India v New Zealand, 1st ODI at Guwahati Timings:

This will be a very early morning start to the game. The match will start from 8.30 am IST or 0300 hours GMT and there is a good chance that the early morning dew will get the team winning the toss to field first.

Venue:

This is going to be the last international match played on this ground in Guwahati, before the action moves to another ground in the city. The last time a game was played on this ground, India had surprisingly elected to bat first on a track which had enough moisture to do otherwise. They lost their top half of the batting to the Australian pace bowlers and were never in the game to go on and lose the series.

The Teams:

India will have a new-look side but given the number of times it has had a new look to their ODI team this year, it hardly remains new-looking! Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar have been rested from the batting, while the pair of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh continue to attend their niggles.

Instead, the Indians will see Gautam Gambhir lead the team and open the innings with Murali Vijay. Yuvraj Singh will to continue with his comeback efforts and look to fight for the final World Cup berth with the likes of Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary. On the bowling front, it does get interesting as India will look to play three frontline pace bowlers and one spinner.

There have been clarion calls for the inclusion of R Ashwin in the side and if that happens, it will be a toss-up between Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan for the “all-rounder’s” slot. Ashish Nehra, S Sreesanth and one of Munaf Patel or Vinay Kumar will make it to the side.

New Zealand are still reeling from their 4-0 whitewash to Bangladesh and that can be seen from the manner in which they have buffered up the team. Scot Styris and Jamie How make their comebacks, while the batting will rely on the hard-hitting Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor. Jesse Ryder will be absent and the duo will need to bring about all their experience along with that of Styris to get going.

The bowling will see both Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum handle the spin department and if the conditions seem right, Darryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills and Tim Southee will be the pace bowlers.

Players to look out for:

Yuvraj Singh will look to impress the selectors given his ouster from the Test match team and the absence of the senior men will mean that the pressure will be on him to deliver. For New Zealand, Kane Williamson has had a good run with a century in Bangladesh and one in the Tests against India and will look to grow as a batsman.

Cheapo Airlines

India beat 3rd Test aganinst New Zealand at Nagpur, Clinch series 1-0

Nagpur: Indian spinners Harbhajan (3/56) and Ojha (2/67) wreaked havoc on the turning track as India recorded of their most convincing Test wins in recent times by thrashing NZ by an innings and 198 runs in the third and final Test to clinch the three-match series 1-0 here on Tuesday 23rd Nov 2010.

Rahul Dravid was named player of the match for his classy knock 191 and Harbhajan Singh, terrific performance with bat and ball is Player of the series. 

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Harbhajan Singh slams second consecutive hundred

This is Harbhajan's second successive century and the knock make him the highest run-getter in the present series. Harbhajan Singh became the first man to score back-to-back Test centuries from No.8. He scored 111* with 7 sixes and 7 fours, he also added 105 with Sreesanth, the third highest 10th wicket partnership for India.