Day 3 IND V NZ
India 316 & 227/8 (63.2 ov)
New Zealand 204
India lead by 339 runs with 2 wickets remaining
India had two huge things in their favour on Sunday - a first-innings lead and a first-rate innings from Virat Kohli. While his team-mates copped good ones or were roughed up by the variable bounce in the pitch, the Indian captain found a way to be at ease in the face of a fired-up New Zealand pace attack. It took a truly naughty delivery, one that was pitched short but stayed extremely low, to dismiss him five short of a fifty. By then, he had taken the sting out of the new ball and paved the way for Rohit Sharma to ratchet the lead up to 339. Never had a team made as many in the fourth innings at Eden Gardens and the highest target chased down at the venue was a mere 117.
The key to batting in tough conditions seems absurdly simple when you put it in words - moving your feet quickly and meeting the ball late. Kohli showed signs of that very early in his innings. His comfort at the crease rattled New Zealand and it wasn't like they didn't have good plans against him. They tried bouncing him out with short leg, leg gully and deep square leg in place. But Kohli shuffled across, swiveled on his back foot, rolled his wrists over the ball, and made sure it went to ground. Then came the full and wide deliveries. Kohli either avoided them or got his front foot right forward, meaning he could play the cover drive with his hands a lot closer to his body.
With time at the crease, Kohli displayed aspects of his game that have made him irresistible in one-day cricket. Awareness of the field: in the 17th over, with Neil Wagner bowling from around the wicket with a packed leg-side field, Kohli carved a bouncer to the vacant third man boundary. Manipulating the field: in the 20th over, he took a tossed-up delivery from Jeetan Patel and flicked it a yard or two to the left of short midwicket but kept it several feet to the right of mid-on.
A free-flowing half-century from Rohit took the game even further away from New Zealand. He had coped well when the ball was new and was reacting in bizarre ways off the deck. But as it got older and softer, it became easier to line up and few players can hit through the line as well as he can. In the 40th over, Rohit took a short ball from Boult and deposited it in the stands behind deep square leg. The timing was pristine. A large crowd at Eden Gardens - who have been spoiled by Rohit before - was treated to picture-perfect cover drives and cuts that ranged from delicate to dismissive. From 29 off 59 balls, finished on 82 off 132.
New Zealand had had their moments early in the day. This third-day surface was such that consistently bowling back of a length in line with the stumps, or just outside off, would provide rich reward. Matt Henry had proved as much in his first spell, setting up M Vijay with three short balls before a beautiful, pitched-up outswinger took the edge and went to slip. Cheteshwar Pujara was given the same treatment, but the short balls he faced were a lot more venomous. One barely rose over the stumps, another rapped him on the glove. When the fuller one came, Pujara was lbw. Replays, however, indicated the ball would have gone down leg.
India's lead was at 136. Two of their best batsmen had been dismissed. And those in the dressing room may still have felt nervous because the pitch was starting to misbehave more frequently.
In the first over of India's second innings, a good length ball from Trent Boult reared up and hit Shikhar Dhawan's left hand. In the third over, another delivery bouncing extravagantly, this time off a shortish length, forced a break in play as Dhawan was hit on the same hand and needed medical attention. He was on 0 for 14 balls before he hit a fuller and wider delivery through the covers for four. On Test comeback, he would have preferred a less stern examination. And perhaps a few more runs than 17.
Henry bounced Ajinkya Rahane out, benefiting from the ball coming off the deck a little slower than the batsman expected. India were 43 for 4 but, for the second time in the day, New Zealand lost focus after beginning quite well.
They had resumed their first innings in the morning at 128 for 7 and were propped up by BJ Watling and Patel, who added 60 runs for the eighth wicket. But after a rain break, R Ashwin broke the partnership with his first ball of the day, a beauty that danced away from Patel in the air and turned his slog over midwicket into a top-edge that was caught just beyond the cut strip at mid-off. The wicket had come after India had changed the ball and Patel was dismissed for his highest Test score of 47.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, in the third over of the day, established that reverse swing was on offer. He had taken five wickets in 10 overs on Saturday and had he added one more this morning he could have become the first Indian pacer to take a six-for at home this century. However, it is his partner who is better at making the old ball a threat. Mohammed Shami pinned Watling in front of middle with a full-length delivery that curved in late and quite rapidly too. In his next over, he had the No. 10 Wagner lbw as well and New Zealand were all out for 204.
2nd ODI
South Africa 361/6 (50.0 ov)
Australia 219 (37.4 ov)
South Africa won by 142 runs
A decade after the most high-scoring ODI in history, the Wanderers witnessed something far less competitive. South Africa's batsmen overwhelmed Australia for the second time in as many matches, despite the visiting captain winning the toss and choosing to chase on a Wanderers pitch brimful of runs. The final margin of 142 runs was South Africa's second-biggest over Australia.
Where at Centurion it had been Quinton de Kock handing out the punishment, here it was the captain Faf du Plessis who prospered, helped either side of his innings by strong contributions by Rilee Rossouw and JP Duminy. Their innings ensured a difficult day for the Australian pace debutants Joe Mennie and Chris Tremain, who were taken for 160 runs between them in 20 overs.
In reply to a steep target of 362, the tourists were never able to mount a decent challenge from the moment Aaron Finch skied an attempt to pull Kagiso Rabada in the second over. From there, regular wickets stymied progress to make it a more or less stress-free afternoon for the Proteas, who always had plenty of runs in reserve even as Travis Head posted his highest ODI score.
On a pristine day for batting and a friendly pitch, Australia's bowlers struggled again in the absence of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Du Plessis' 111 was a fine example of high tempo and good placement, not requiring a single six despite striking at nearly 120 runs per 100 balls. Duminy's was a bigger-hitting innings, after Rossouw had produced a flurry of boundaries against the new ball to set South Africa on the road to a big total.
After de Kock destroyed Australia's bowling attack in making 178 in the opening match at Centurion, the visitors dropped Scott Boland and Daniel Worrall, replacing them with Mennie and Tremain. South Africa did not make any changes to the team that won the first match of the series. The captain du Plessis indicated that Hashim Amla was fit to return and had simply been left out, leaving Rossouw at the top of the order.
It was Rossouw who duly got the Proteas going in the early overs, repeatedly piercing the off-side field with well-timed strokes that flew across a fast - if somewhat uneven - Wanderers outfield.
Both Mennie and Tremain were able to beat the bat numerous times with a modicum of early seam movement, but in between whiles, a high number of boundaries meant there was little scoreboard pressure imposed. It wasn't until John Hastings entered the attack that a wicket fell, de Kock failing to get hold of a lofted drive and offering a catch to Tremain.
Du Plessis' early minutes at the crease were eventful and painful, as a shy at the stumps struck him on the glove as he ran through for a single. The blow required treatment, and he was to be struck there again soon after by another ball that popped up towards the splice of the bat.
However the pain subsided enough for du Plessis to get into his stride, as Rossouw maintained his form. Together they took South Africa to 146 after 24 overs, separated only when Rossouw skied Hastings just when a century beckoned.
Duminy's arrival brought a further period of acceleration, with du Plessis also lifting his scoring rate with nifty placement and the occasional burst of power. Australia's captain Steven Smith was hard pressed to find bowlers capable of keeping things quiet, and when Duminy began swinging - striking the first three sixes of the innings - a tally in the region of 400 looked momentarily possible.
The Australians regrouped somewhat in the later overs, dismissing Duminy and du Plessis in quick succession to pull the run-rate back slightly, and it was a fair measure of the conditions that the hosts were left feeling they could have made even more than they did. That being said, only a strong partnership or two from the potentially explosive Australian top order was going to be able to turn the contest their way,
However these sorts of stands have been missing from Smith's team of late, with victories in Sri Lanka compiled in lower-scoring circumstances. Finch's early wicket set the tone, with a critical moment to follow when Smith was well claimed down the leg side by de Kock from the bowling of Dale Steyn just as he looked capable of dominating.
The vice-captain David Warner seemed similarly poised after moving to 50, but then threw away his innings by clouting a Duminy long hop straight to midwicket. That dismissal left Head and the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade trying to resurrect the innings, but their stand of 69 in 61 balls served only to delay the inevitable.
Having entered this tour at less than full strength in bowling, the Australians needed to compensate in batting. A complete failure to do so in games one and two has left the series only one match away from being decided already.
2nd ODI
Pakistan 337/5 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 278/7 (50.0 ov)
Pakistan won by 59 runs
Pakistan followed up their 3-0 T20I series win by sealing the ODI series with yet another clinical display against West Indies in Sharjah. Pakistan's 59-run win was set up by their most and least experienced batsmen - Shoaib Malik and Babar Azam - who combined to display the art of batting through the middle overs on a slow surface to lead them to 337 for 5, the third-highest total in Sharjah.
Azam struck a chanceless century, his second successive one, and Malik blitzed 90 as the pair strung together 169, Pakistan's highest stand for the third wicket against West Indies. In reply, West Indies found the chase too steep and could only manage 278 for 7.
Openers Azhar Ali and Sharjeel Khan put West Indies under pressure from the outset after Pakistan opted to bat. Sharjeel used his bottom hand to clear the infield regularly, collecting three fours and a six in his 12-ball 24 before West Indies hit back, removing both batsmen in the space of three balls.
Thereafter, Azam and Malik stalled West Indies with sound technique and calculated risks. Azam pierced the field while Malik went over it, both equally effective in collecting frequent boundaries and keeping the score moving. Sulieman Benn's introduction was delayed, but Malik capitalised on the bowler's modus operandi of flight and loop from around the wicket.
Malik struck five sixes off Benn - three in succession in the 27th over - by shimmying down, getting underneath the ball and going over the arc between long-on and midwicket. The period between overs 21 and 35 yielded 107 in conditions not suited to effortless run-scoring.
In between, Azam unfurled classy drives through cover and found gaps in the outfield to accumulate runs. After Malik carved one to point, Azam utilised Pakistan's strong platform. His 126-ball 123 included nine fours and a six, which indicated his ability to maintain a high strike rate through ones and twos. Neither Malik nor Azam offered even a "half-chance" until their dismissals.
Towards the latter stages of the innings, West Indies seemed to stall Pakistan's ease at finding the boundary through clever variations in pace until Sarfraz Ahmed plundered four fours in five balls in the 47th over. Sarfraz struck an unbeaten 60, but it went largely unnoticed behind Azam and Malik's pyrotechnics.
West Indies needed to pull off the highest successful chase in Sharjah to stay alive in the series, but their innings got the same start as the four previous games on this tour: an early wicket. Johnson Charles, looking to clear the off-side infield, toe-ended a catch to cover off Mohammad Amir to start the slide.
Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo were left with the task of stabilising the innings in the face of some accurate bowling. Their 89-run second-wicket stand was built on the back of some sweetly-timed boundaries and plenty of singles, but it also took up 118 balls - not quick enough for a steep chase in tough run-scoring conditions.
However, West Indies remained in the fight as Bravo took the onus of accelerating by attacking left-arm spinners Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz. He struck three sixes over long-on off overpitched deliveries, two of which cleared the ground.
Hasan Ali, though, removed Bravo with an athletic piece of fielding off his own bowling. Bravo nudged a yorker towards short leg and Hasan sprang towards the ball in his follow-through, picked up while sliding, turned around and fired an accurate throw at the non-striker's end, all in one swift motion.
Marlon Samuels was up against a mounting asking rate and a wily bowling side. He stuck around for 52 balls and struck 57, but the enormity of the task in front of West Indies meant that his effort didn't suffice.
Eventually, the asking rate was too steep an ask even for West Indies' powerful middle order. That they couldn't capitalise on six dropped chances by Pakistan told the story.
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