India vs NZ 3rd ODI: India win by 7 wickets; takes 2-1 lead in series

Courtesy to brilliant 154 by Virat Kohli, India defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets in the 3^rd ODI match played at Mohali. With this win, India have taken a 2-1 lead in the five match ODI series.

Indian captain MS Dhoni winning his third consecutive toss of the series invited the host NZ team to bat first. The NZ team got all out for 285 in 49.4 overs. Kedar Jadhav and Umesh Yadav both took 3 wickets each.

While chasing India lost two early wickets in the form of Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, but the pair of Dhoni and Kohli made sure they stay at the crease and gradually the pair made sure India’s victory with a partnership of 151 runs for the 3^rd wicket.

Apart from Kohli’s scintillating 26^th century for he was also awarded the Man of the match award, Skipper MS Dhoni played a crucial innings of 80 runs of 91 balls which helped the pair to settle down pretty well and make use of the pitch which was assistive to batting. NZ bowlers were unable to restrict Indian batsman and kept on leaking runs.

Initially, India won the match with 8 balls remaining. Next match of the series will be played on October 26 at Ranchi.

Brief scores:

 New Zealand 285 all out in 49.4 overs (Tom Latham 61, James Neesham 57, Ross Taylor 44; Kedar Jadhav 3/29, Umesh Yadav 3/75)

India 289-3 in 48.2 overs (Virat Kohli 154, MS Dhoni 80, Manish Pandey 28; Matt Henry 2/56, Tim Southee 1/55)