Virat Kohli’s superbly crafted, unbeaten 154 enabled India to cruise to an easy seven-wicket victory in the third ODI against New Zealand in Mohali on Sunday. India now lead the five-match series 2-1.
Kohli's 134-ball knock was ably complemented by an under-pressure skipper Dhoni (80 off 91) as the duo forged a 151-run partnership off 163 balls to effectively seal the match with 10 balls to spare after the home team made a shaky start in their pursuit of 286.
After much deliberation, Dhoni promoted himself up the order and it did yield results. Whilst completing his first half century in 11 innings, the Indian completed 9000 runs to become the fifth Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin. He also surpassed Tendulkar to be India's leading six-hitter in ODIs.
Eventually, it was India's No 1 batsman Kohli, who got the job done with ridiculous ease. Hitting 16 boundaries and a six, he scored his 26th ODI century and third in the last seven ODI innings.
Dhoni, Kohli Hold India’s Batting Order
India felt the pressure at the start of the chase. Openers Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, who were not among the runs in the earlier games, fell cheaply once again, leaving India at 41 for two in the ninth over.
While Kohli looked in sublime touch at the other end, Dhoni promoted himself at number four ahead of Manish Pandey in his bid to lead from the front in a tricky situation.
Dhoni made good use of his feet, both to the pacers and spinners. His first boundary was a pull off Tim Southee before smashing left-arm spinner Santer for a straight six to cross the 9000 run mark. Dhoni ended up with six fours and three sixes.
Kohli was all class from the word go. He ended the game in exhilarating fashion, punishing Trent Boult for three fours and a six in what turned out to be the penultimate over of the game.
Pandey too remained unbeaten on 24 and hit the winning boundary . The duo shared a 97 run stand for the fourth wicket.
Mishra, Jadhav Help Restrict NZ To 285
New Zealand had earlier suffered a batting collapse before Jimmy Neesham (57) and Matt Henry (39*) came up with a 84-run stand for the ninth wicket to take their side to a competitive total of 285.
With the ball coming nicely on to the bat, the visitors were off to their best start of the series coasting to 64 for one in 10 overs. After Martin Guptill (27) and Skipper Kane Williamson (22) got out, Tom Latham (61) and Taylor (44) laid the foundation with a solid 73-run stand for the third wicket.
Taylor's dismissal led to a flurry of wickets though New Zealand still managed to reach close to the 300 milestone, thanks to a valiant partnership between Neesham and Henry.
In the Indian bowling order, Amit Mishra and Kedar Jadhav did the bulk of the damage as New Zealand's hopes of a formidable total were dashed in quick time. Jadhav ended with figures of 3 for 29 in five overs while Mishra conceded 46 runs and took couple of wickets in 10 overs. Pacer Umesh Yadav scalped three wickets as well but proved expensive, giving away 75 runs in 10 overs.
(With inputs from PTI.)