Former India captain MS Dhoni guided spinner Kuldeep Yadav from behind the stumps to bowl a googly that got him his fourth wicket of the day. It also resulted in New Zealand ending its innings for 157 in the first ODI of the five-match series at Napier on Wednesday.
Speaking to Yadav towards the end of the innings, Dhoni was heard saying from behind the stumps, “Yeh aankh band karke rokega. Dusra waala daal sakta hai isko. (He’s going to shut his eyes and block. You can bowl one that goes the other way to him)”
Dhoni had read Trent Boult perfectly and told the wrist spinner to bowl a googly. Yadav bowled the googly, it got the edge and Rohit Sharma took a simple catch at first slip to dismiss Boult for 1.
@msdhoni literally dictated that last wicket step by step before it happened. #NZvIND #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/QwPyuE1mEv
— Venkat Iyer (@Vencuts) 23 January 2019
Yadav was the most successful bowler in the first ODI, with figures of 4/39 in 10 overs, while seamer Mohammed Shami finished with excellent figures of 3/19 in six overs. There were also two wickets for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson slammed his 36th ODI half-century, but it went in vain as Shikhar Dhawan responded with an unbeaten 75. Dhawan became the joint fourth-fastest batsman to reach 5000 runs.
The first ODI also featured a bizarre and unprecedented interruption due to the setting sun, which overshadowed the on-field action. The Duckworth-Lewis method was used for the first time for an interruption which was not caused by rain. Because of the nearly half-an-hour delay, the target was revised to 156 in 49 overs, which the visitors chased without much trouble.
