‘Thodi der ke liye g##te muh me tha’ – Fans take a sigh of relief as India wins a nail-biter first ODI against New Zealand by 12 runs

India and New Zealand locked horns in the first ODI at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday. On a bright sunny day, Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was a bit slow as the ball was stopping on the surface before reaching the bat. Despite this, India posted a massive total of 349/8 in the first innings courtesy of a scintillating double hundred by Shubman Gill.

In reply, New Zealand came mighty close to victory as they got all out for 337 in the final over giving India a win by 12 runs.

After opting to bat first, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill began dealing in boundaries right from the word go. They added 60 runs for the first wicket before Rohit Sharma got holed out for 34 at mid-on against Blair Tickner.

Virat Kohli walked in next but got out cheaply for just 8 as he was cleaned up by Mitchell Santner. India further lost Ishan Kishan as their third wicket and were in some trouble at 110/3 in 19.4 overs. However, Shubman Gill at the other end looked unfazed by what was happening to his partners.

After the fall of Kishan’s wicket, Gill and Suryakumar Yadav added 65 runs for the fourth wicket. Gill looked in sublime touch as he marched towards his second consecutive ODI hundred. He reached the landmark in 87 balls in the 30^th over.

The Punjab batter continued his marathon knock and brought up his 150 in 122 balls with another maximum against Michael Bracewell. With seven overs left in the innings, it looked certain that Gill will look for a double hundred.

He first scored two sixes against Blair Tickner to get to 180s and then took on Lockie Ferguson and smashed consecutive sixes in the next over to enter the exclusive club of One Day double centurions.

The 23-year-old became the youngest batter to reach the landmark and the fifth Indian to do so. He was finally dismissed in the last over for 208 off 149 with 19 fours and 9 sixes as India finished their innings on 349/8.

In reply to India’s total, New Zealand lost the key wicket of Devon Conway in the sixth over. Following Conway’s dismissal, Fin Allen and Henry Nicholls tried to stabilize the innings with their 42-run stand.

However, they failed to keep up with the required run rate and lost wickets while trying to up the ante. New Zealand went from 70/1 to 131/6 as Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav picked up two wickets each.

Michael Bracewell kept New Zealand in the hunt with his scintillating knock

New Zealand made a terrific comeback in the game as Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santer put on a mammoth 162-run stand for the seventh wicket in just 102 balls. Bracewell brought up his hundred in just 57 balls while Santer scored 57 off 45 balls. The game was heading towards a thrilling finish with New Zealand needing 59 off 30 balls. Mohammed Siraj brought India back in the game in 46th over as he picked two wickets.

But Bracewell was still batting and took the game to the final over with 20 required to win. He smacked the first ball of the final over by Shardul Thakur for a massive six as Indian fans looked dejected. Thakur further bowled a wide delivery to make matters worse. However, the man with the golden arm bowled a full delivery on the very next ball and trapped Bracewell for lbw to seal the win for India. India won the match by 12 runs and took a 1-0 lead in the series. Bracewell played a magnificent knock of 140 off 78 balls with 12 fours and 10 sixes. Mohammed Siraj picked 4/46 in 10 overs at his home ground.

Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with reactions on India’s win. Here are some of the Tweets: