Williamson proved that one day cricket is a batsman’s game and the Feroz Shah Kotla wicket was playing true throughout the game. A total of 242 looked modest for a team like India but Dhoni’s side played without proper planning and paid price for complacency. Instead of sticking around, the captain should have worked hard to make the score board moving and thereby giving others a fair chance of going for the kill. The skipper thought of slowing down and going for the kill but a superlative catch by Southee and equally agile fielding in the deep prevented Dhoni’s dream of achieving another easy win. Both K Jadhav and H. Pandya played cameo innings but failed to preserve the wicket for an onslaught and understand the real value of keeping the ball down during crucial stages of the match. For the Kiwi side.
Boult bowled beautifully and made Pandya to play a false stroke and Santer safe as a fielder made no mistake. With 11 runs required for a win in the final over and the last wicket the task became difficult with Southee directing a perfect yorker to finish the game in style.
Lakshmi Raghu
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
