New Zealand had built a strong platform in Dharamsala but India did not allow them to capitalise in the slog overs

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Oct-20231:29

Pujara: Shami is ‘always mentally ready’ for games

India captain Rohit Sharma has praised his bowlers for dismissing New Zealand for 273, after a 159-run stand between Daryl Mitchell and Rachin Ravindra threatened to propel them to a more commanding score.New Zealand had reached 178 for 2 in the 34th over when Mohammed Shami had Ravindra caught at long-on. From there on, India kept taking wickets at regular intervals and restricted New Zealand to a score their captain Tom Latham considered below par. India eventually completed the chase with four wickets in hand and 12 balls to spare, their fifth win in an unbeaten run to the top of the points table.”At one stage, we were looking at 300-plus, the way Mitch [Mitchell] and Rachin [Ravindra] batted. NZ put up a big partnership there,” Rohit said after the game. “The wicket was easy to bat on, dew came in as well.Related

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“But I’ve got to give credit to the bowlers in the back end to pull things back nicely,” Rohit said. “And to restrict them to 270-odd was a great effort.”In the chase, Rohit laid down the platform with a 40-ball 46 before Virat Kohli made 95 to seal the win for India. He and Jadeja put on 78 runs for the sixth wicket to complete the win.”There’s nothing much to say, honestly. We’ve seen him do this for so many years,” Rohit said about Kohli. “Such a calm head. He’ll back himself to do the job. Towards the end there was a bit of pressure, we lost a couple of wickets there, but Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja pulled us back.”

Latham: ‘We left a few runs out there’

Latham said New Zealand should have scored more after Mitchell and Ravindra’s partnership. New Zealand scored only 86 runs in the last 15 overs, despite having seven wickets in hand at the start of the 36th.”I thought we did very well. Maybe towards the last ten, we didn’t quite capitalise on the position we were in, but full credit to the way India bowled in the back ten,” Latham said. “They bowled fantastically well and we probably left a few [runs] out there.”He said he felt they were 30-40 runs short of a par score.”I don’t think we quite capitalised. Daryll and Rachin had a fantastic partnership to set us up well for the back ten.”India’s four-wicket victory took them to the top of the points table, with five wins in five games, and ended New Zealand’s winning streak of four matches. India next play England on October 29 in Lucknow, while New Zealand take on Australia on October 28 in Dharamsala.