India suffered an embarrassing loss against New Zealand by 7 wickets at Eden Park, Auckland. An unbeaten knock of 145 by left-hander Tom Latham and a classy knock of 94 not out from the captain Kane Williamson drove New Zealand to a comprehensive victory. The kiwis chased down the target of 307 easily in 47.1 overs after losing only 3 wickets and took lead in the series by 1-0.
Earlier, in India’s inning, the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill gave an excellent start with a 100-run partnership. Gill scored 50 runs while Dhawan departed after scoring 72 runs. India were in trouble after losing Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav in the same over. However, Shreyas Iyer established the innings with 80 runs. Washington Sundar’s quickfire 37* off 16 propelled them to 306/7 in 50 Overs.
‘We can introspect, come back with new ideas in the next game’: Shreyas Iyer
Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer said that there were a few things that didn’t go their way and they will be working on that to come back stronger in the remaining two matches of the series.
“The situation we were in and from there to reach 307 is a commendable total. Definitely, some things didn’t go our way today but it’s a learning curve, we can introspect, and come back with new ideas in the next game,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“It’s not easy to directly come from India and play here. Wickets keep on changing in every place and this is a challenge that you need to face. You have to be mentally strong, just have to adapt to the situations,” Iyer said.
He also praised the partnership between Williamson and Latham which made a difference between the two teams.
“Both of them (Latham and Williamson) played fantastic knocks. They knew which bowlers to target at a specific time. I believe their partnership completely changed the scenario of the game and that was a crucial phase for us to get wickets.
“The way Latham took that over (40th), I think that completely shifted the momentum towards them. He wanted to come in and he wanted to build that partnership. Since they have been playing together for so many years so they know their strengths and weaknesses pretty closely,'” Iyer said.
