Surprised how easily New Zealand got across the line: Gavaskar

Former captain Sunil Gavaskar says he was quite surprised by how easily New Zealand upstaged India in the second ODI in Rajkot and denied the home team freedom to experiment with its combination in the third and final game on Sunday.

 Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 131-run knock powered New Zealand to a series-levelling win in the second ODI in Rajkot as the visitors chased a 285-run target with seven wickets to spare. The series-decider will be played in Indore. “I was surprised by how easily New Zealand got across the line because, before they started batting, everyone thought India would be able to make use of the slowness of the pitch,” Gavaskar said on JioHotstar’s ‘Amul Cricket Live’.

“With their (New Zealand) bowlers, not just the spinners, but all of them, using the slowness of the surface well, it felt like India would be able to restrict New Zealand to around 260 or 270. I thought that would have been an easy win for India,” he said. Gavaskar was full of praise for the composed manner in which Mitchell combined with Will Young (87) to stitch a 162-run partnership that took the game away from India.

“I think they showed how a near-300 run total can be chased down, by taking your time to settle in and then backing your stroke-making ability and running between the wickets,” he said.  Gavaskar said pressure will be on India in the series finale and they don’t have the elbow room to try someone like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who could have been included for the Indore game had the series been decided.

“...Had they won this game, they would have had the freedom to experiment a little, perhaps giving opportunities to those who haven’t played so far. Someone like Jaiswal could have gotten a bit of a run as well. “All of that might have been possible. But now they can’t take any chances. They have to play their best eleven again.”

Former New Zealand player Simon Doull lauded Mitchell for his knock and the manner he took down India’s spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja. While Kuldeep went for 82 runs in his 10 overs managing to take just one wicket, Jadeja conceded 44 wicket-less runs in his eight overs.

“Mitchell’s got some very good numbers against India...We see it time and again, the reverse sweeps, using his feet. Very early on against Kuldeep, he came down the wicket and put him under pressure in his first over. From that moment, Kuldeep lost his length slightly, which doesn’t happen often.

“Even against Jadeja, he played him really well. The fact that he can come down the pitch, use his feet, hit over the top, or stay aggressive and play shots on both sides of the ground, with the reverse sweeps, the back-foot shots, everything in his armoury, shows his confidence,” he said.

Doull agreed with Gavaskar that it is the hosts who would be feeling the heat in the decider. “Of the two sides, New Zealand are the one not under pressure going into the final game. India generally respond pretty well to pressure; they still have key players in the side, and they know how to handle these situations,” he said, striking a more optimistic note.

“They understand how to win game three or game five of a series when it’s all levelled up. But New Zealand have nothing to lose. They have never won an ODI series in this country, so this would be a good time to start,” he added.