Dubai: Seamer Matt Henry stood tall yet again to pick 5-42, third five-for in the 50-over format, as New Zealand restricted India to 249/9 in their 50 overs in the final Group A game of the 2025 Champions Trophy at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Electing to bowl first, New Zealand used the help offered by the black soil pitch to good effect and kept India in check. Shreyas Iyer rescued India from a top-order collapse by making a fine 79 and got the company of Axar Patel, who made a solid 42. With New Zealand bowling superbly in the back end, Hardik Pandya’s run-a-ball 45 ensured India posted a competitive total.
With some help on offer for the fast bowlers, Henry and Kyle Jamieson made good use of it by asking tough questions to the Indian batters via seam and swing respectively. Though Rohit Sharma clobbered Henry for four and six respectively, the seamer bounced back by trapping Shubman Gill plumb lbw with a lovely inswinger for just two.
Jamieson joined in when Rohit mistimed a pull and was caught at midwicket for 15. Virat Kohli got going with two edgy boundaries in his landmark 300th ODI before he cut one hard off Henry and Glenn Phillips flew to his right at backward point to take a stunning catch, leaving everyone shellshocked, as the batter fell for 11, with India ending first power-play at 37/3.
With the ball turning a lot for New Zealand’s spinners, India went 51 balls without hitting a boundary till Axar swept off Mitchell Santner in the 16th over. After that, Iyer carted William O’Rourke for three fours – two coming off pulls while the third one came as a drive over extra cover.
While Iyer continued his good run to get his 22nd ODI fifty in 75 balls, Axar took a liking to Michael Bracewell’s off-spin by hitting him for two fours, before lofting him over extra covers for six. The 98-run stand was broken when Axar tried to pull a down leg delivery from Rachin Ravindra, but the top edge was caught by a backward square leg and the batter fell for 42.
With KL Rahul getting off the mark by lofting Ravindra for four, Iyer got the timing right on his shots fetching him a six each off the spinner and O’Rourke respectively. But in the 37th over, the short ball caused Iyer’s downfall as he was rushed into the pull off O’Rourke and top edge was caught by short mid-wicket running backwards.
Three overs later, Rahul fell for 23 as he tried to play a skiddy delivery from Santner away from his body, but got a thick edge behind to Tom Latham. Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja kickstarted the slog overs phase by hitting Bracewell for six and four respectively, before the former pulled O’Rourke for another boundary.
Hardik stood tall to hit a forehand-like shot for four off Henry, who later had Jadeja slicing to backward point with Kane Williamson taking a one-handed diving catch. With New Zealand spot on with their lengths, they managed to keep Hardik quiet till the all-rounder cut loose in the 49th over.
He sliced and lofted Jamieson for back-to-back fours, before following it up by pulling the pacer over long-on for six to take 15 runs off the penultimate over. But Henry dismissed him and Mohammed Shami in the final over to pick a five-fer and keep India one run short of 250.
Brief scores: India 249/9 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79, Hardik Pandya 45; Matt Henry 5-42) against New Zealand.
(IANS)
