Chasing 243 for victory, the hosts were reduced to 183 for eight in the 41st over but all-rounder Hardik Pandya (36) and number 10 batsman Umesh Yadav (18 not out) added 49 for the ninth wicket to take their team close.
But Pandya fell in the penultimate over and then Tim Southee bowled out last man Jasprit Bumrah in the final over for his third wicket as India folded for 236 with three balls to spare.
India would not have expected a target of 243 to trouble them. But it did. Their top order tends to finish games off. Not this time. That left the job to MS Dhoni and a set of batsmen not accustomed to finishing an innings. New Zealand exploited that weakness to pull off a six-run victory and level the five-match series at 1-1.
It was a chaotic scrap at the finish, which brought a noisy crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla to their feet in the final stages. India were 172 for 6 – and the man dismissed was the captain, who was also their best option against an equation of 71 runs in 63 balls. Then a goofy over from Martin Guptill – four wides, ten balls, and two wickets – brought Hardik Pandya front and centre for the second match in a row.
In Dharamsala, he offered a glimpse at his utility as a new-ball bowler. In Delhi, he suggested he has promise as a man who could come in late and stay sensible under pressure. He wrestled an equation of 48 off 36 balls down to 11 off seven.
In that time, New Zealand’s disciplines were taking a beating. It was the final overs of the innings, but they did not look for the yorker. Most of their success was a result of the fast bowlers hitting back of a length on a pitch that was slow and holding up, meaning neither using the pace nor forcing it was a good idea.
The problem was, late into the night, the dew started to take effect. That meant it got a little easier to hit the ball through the line. It also meant New Zealand’s fielders, who were simply remarkable, were suddenly slipping all over the place. It was the kind of situation – with things starting to turn at the worst possible time – that could have broken anyone’s resolve. If only for the fact that the opposition’s ninth-wicket was racking it up at a run-a-ball.
But that’s when the big players stand up. On came Trent Boult – back in the XI after a rest – and he conceded only six runs in the penultimate over and also got rid of Pandya. Tim Southee sealed India’s fate with a yorker.
Kane Williamson played a vital part to his team’s revival as well, scoring New Zealand’s first century on the tour. He came to the crease in the first over and did not budge until the 43rd. By that time he had 118 runs off 128 balls. It was far and away the best innings of the day, and perhaps along the way he understood that runs on the board was not a bad place to be.
Besides the fact that New Zealand has been unable to win a single match on tour – they have struggled to win tosses too – plenty of challenges came Williamson’s way. Not least of which was his own body refusing to cooperate. He began cramping up in the Delhi heat – and it became contagious. His left forearm caught it first, then his right, and at one point he couldn’t even lift a bottle to drink. But when play resumed, he smacked Pandya over his head to the long-on boundary.
He picked 65 of his runs in the arc between backward square leg and wide mid-on, which in the early part of the innings, was usually only manned by one or two men. His first boundary came through midwicket which was left vacant, punishment for Umesh Yadav straying too straight with a 7-2 offside field. His first, and only, six of the innings exemplified how well he knew the field. Mid-on had been up. He danced down and lofted Patel over his head in the 13th over. When Patel was taken off and Mishra was brought on, Williamson cut and flicked the bowler for boundaries to make sure India’s spinners couldn’t threaten him or his team-mates.
