Harshita
HAMILTON: Team India did put a huge total of 347 runs and gave a chasing target of 348 runs to the New Zealand team. However, it seems like India's big total was not enough to beat the Kiwis as they successfully chased the given target with eleven balls left. Indian captain Virat Kohli stated some reasons why India had to face defeat and also heaped a lot of praise on Tom Latham and Ross Taylor.
Just like us, even Virat thought that 348 was a pretty good target for the Black Caps but the win was all credited to Taylor as well as to the stand-in-captain. He said during the post-match presentation, "It was an outstanding performance by New Zealand. We thought 348 was good enough. Ross (Taylor) is the experienced batsman they have but Tom’s (Latham) innings was the one that took away the momentum. Credit to Taylor and Tom."
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Hoping for something better in the next games and refraining to stuck on one defeat, Kohli said, "We didn’t grab onto one chance, but we were decent. Something we need to keep (on) improving. We can’t focus too much (on negative things). Today, the opposition played better than us and they deserved to win."
Ross Taylor's unbeaten ton in the 1st ODI powered New Zealand to take a lead in the 3-match ODI series. After a terrible defeat in the 5-match T20I against India, the Kiwis finally took standing in the ongoing series.
"For us, it was about building partnerships. The total was a little more than what we would have liked to chase. But we managed to get off to a good start and keep wickets in hand. We saw how hard it was to defend with the left-right combination. It’s nice to make winning contributions," said Latham.
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The second match will be held on Saturday at Auckland's Eden Park where the Men in Blue will look to level the scores and the NZ will look forward to clinching the series.
