50 overs India 280 for 8 (Kohli 121, Boult 4-35) v New Zealand
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In Mumbai’s October heat of over 30 degrees and humidity over 70%, on a slow pitch and against a disciplined attack, Virat Kohli decided to practically run through the entirety of his – and almost India’s – innings, and scored his 31st ODI hundred, in only his 200th match, to help India to a total of 280. It was arguably more difficult for the bowlers – Colin de Grandhomme had to fight sickness – but Trent Boult led New Zealand’s charge with wickets in three different spells to keep pulling India back.
Kohli did enjoy some luck – a fairly simple catch went down when he was 29, and two edged took him from 87 to 95 when the pressure was on – but it could be argued he had earned that luck with the excellent fitness and discipline he displayed during his 46-over stay at the wicket. He came in to bat when the reunited India openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, seemed like they had eyes set on the return of the high-scoring ODI in India, which has gone missing over the last two years. Both of them perished to the swing of Boult, and Kohli immediately decided he was going to carry the innings even if it meant a slower than usual start.
Accordingly India were 37 for 2 at the end of 10 overs, 10 runs fewer and one extra wicket than their average over the last two years. Mitchell Santner’s canny left-arm spin made things more difficult for India. Kedar Jadhav soon chipped one back at him to make it 71 for 3 in the 16th over. Out came the surprise pick for this match, Dinesh Karthik, playing ahead of Manish Pandey. Karthik brought out some urgency, matched Kohli run for run, especially when running them, and added 73 in 13.2 overs with Kohli.
While Karthik took the odd risk, you could actually count the number of time Kohli even tried to hit a boundary. There were reasons for it. New Zealand had their plans in place: the wide slip to cut the dabbed single, the short midwicket to block his clip, and a really wide mid-on to lend support. Kohli tried to walk down and thread that leg-side gap, but once he found the fielder, he went back to working the singles. Yet he managed to strike at around 80 through the innings.
In the 29th over, around the time when wickets bring big impact, Kane Williamson went back to Tim Southee. Immediately, he sent back Karthik off a mis-hit hook, a shot that had earlier produced three sixes for India. Now came the spell of play where sides hope for wickets to shut the opposition out. To that end, New Zealand kept going to their strike bowlers. MS Dhoni and Kohli managed to deny New Zealand those wickets but Dhoni’s innings of 42 balls came at a strike rate of under 60. No side could say it owned this period of play.
Boult came back to get rid of Dhoni, and then Pandya, but Kohli kept accelerating gradually and seamlessly. Boult and Santner still remained difficult to hit, but Kohli found a way to score runs off other bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped him out with a late came of 26 off 15. It was only after he reached 75 that Kohli gave himself a license to actively go out looking for boundaries. That seemed ages after he had chipped one to extra cover off de Grandhomme. Santner, who had an excellent day with the ball with 1 for 41, picked it late and found that it came to him at an awkward height. Since then Kohli’s innings went from the slightly awkward to highly efficient.
Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo