In Stats: In 900th ODI, Business as Usual for India & Virat Kohli

India won the first ODI in Dharamsala by 6 wickets.

India celebrated the occasion of becoming the first team to play 900 ODIs by defeating the visiting New Zealanders by 6 wickets in the first ODI at Dharamsala. It was as if the change in colours – from white flannels to coloured clothing, and from red ball to white ball – didn’t matter to either team. Despite the new look to its bowling attack, the Indian bowlers continued to retain the stranglehold over the Kiwis after which Virat Kohli’s fluent unbeaten 85 helped the home side polish off the run chase.

After the Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and put the visitors in, the bowling attack – with Umesh Yadav and Hardik Pandya taking the new ball – dismissed the visitors for a below-par 190. The new ball pair struck on four occasions in the first eleven overs to send the cream of the Kiwi batting order back to the dressing room.

23-year old Hardik Pandya, who received his maiden India ODI cap from the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev earlier in the afternoon, had a dream debut; he dismissed Guptill with the last ball of his first over in ODIs, and then picked up the wickets of Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi.

At one point, Pandya had figures of 3-29 after his six overs. One more wicket at that point would have meant Pandya would have topped the list of best figures by an Indian bowler on ODI debut. That record continues to remain in the name of the Hyderabad off-spinner Noel David, who returned figures of 3-21 on his India ODI debut.

Before 20 overs had been bowled, the Kiwis had slipped to 65-7 after Kedar Jadhav struck twice off successive deliveries in his second over. At that stage, it appeared that the Kiwis would fold quickly and would be bowled out for under 100. Tom Latham, who had remained steadfast at one end, and Doug Bracewell, stemmed the fall of wickets; the eighth wicket pair batted for more than twelve overs though runs came at a trickle.

The rescue act for the Kiwis came from the ninth wicket pairing of Latham and Tim Southee; the pair added 71 runs in 9.4 overs to take their team to a respectable total. Courtesy the stand between Latham and Southee, New Zealand finished with 190 runs on the board.

Tim Southee will fondly remember this match for more reasons than one; it was his 100th ODI appearance, he celebrated it with his maiden half-century in the 50-over format, and even barged his way into the record books by posting the highest score by a Kiwi batsman batting at number 10.

The Kiwis were bowled out for 190, with opener Tom Latham remaining undefeated on 79. It was only the tenth time in the history of ODIs that an opener had carried his bat through an innings while the rest of the batting line-up had folded. Latham carries the distinction of becoming the first New Zealander to carry his bat through an ODI innings.

Facing a modest target, India cruised past the finish line, with Virat Kohli, not surprisingly, starring in the run-chase. The 27-year old brought up his half-century off 55 balls and finished the chase in style, hitting Ish Sodhi for a six straight into the sightscreen.