Skipper Virat Kohli loves the 'character' shown by India shows in Wellington
After 10 years, Team India finally outclassed New Zealand on their own soil in an ODI series. In the fifth and the final ODI, the visitors made a solid comeback after another top-order collapse too and clinch the match by 35 runs and take the series 4-1.
Apart from the fourth ODI, the visitors dominated the Kiwis in their backyard across all the departments. A Jasprit Bumrah-less Indian bowling attack turned wrath upon world-class NZ batsmen which included the likes of Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor.
After the team's victory, skipper Virat Kohli, who has been rested for the last two ODI and T20I series, congratulated his men on social media.
The 30-year old took to Twitter and posted, "Great come back from a tough situation early on to make it 4-1. Shows the character we have. Well done boys. Jai Hind @BCCI"
Great come back from a tough situation early on to make it 4-1. Shows the character we have. Well done boys. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 @BCCI pic.twitter.com/wtBzWCjz57
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) February 3, 2019
The 4-1 scoreline is the best that India have achieved in New Zealand across formats since they started touring the country in 1967.
At 18 for four, India were heading towards another sub-100 total before the middle-order batsmen fought back to post a fighting total of 252.
The 98-run stand for the fifth wicket between Ambati Rayudu (90 off 113) and Vijay Shankar (45 off 64) was the highlight of the middle-order fight back.
Hardik Pandya's 45 off 22 balls also went a long way in India posting a challenging target and his two wickets, later on, showed why he is such an important member of the team.
New Zealand batsmen, including skipper Kane Williamson (39), squandered their starts in the chase but the home team remained in the contest until Jimmy Neesham (44 off 32) was dismissed in the 37th over.
Some former cricketers were also impressed with the way Indian team continue their domination in the overseas tour with two back to back to successful series win (against Australia and New Zealand).
Great to win this game after being 18-4, great contributions from the middle, lower order today and really loved the way @ImRo45 used these combination of bowlers. Congratulations @BCCI #NZvInd pic.twitter.com/FXR6tDSzLt
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 3, 2019
Fantastic win from India. This one will really please the team a lot & I just loved the intensity with which they bowled today ,despite having already won the series. Great contributions from the middle order with the bat and some excellent bowling by each of the bowlers #NZvIND
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) February 3, 2019
Walks in at 12-2, leaves at the score of 190-6. The kind of contribution that a no 4 should be able to make..Well done Rayudu!👏👏🙏#INDvsNZ
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) February 3, 2019
Recovered from an early collapse. And then defended a reasonably small total...well done, India 😊🙌 #NZvInd @StarSportsIndia
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 3, 2019