In the second ODI match between India and New Zealand at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first. Justifying the skipper’s decision, senior pacer Mohammed Shami captialised on early movement with new ball and dismissed opener Finn Allen for a duck in the very first over of the innings. Having drawn first blood, the duo of Shami and Mohammaed Siraj then got on top of the Kiwi batters and made them dance to their tune. In the sixth over, Siraj took the wicket of Henry Nicholls and then Shami further turned on the heat as he dismissed Daryl Mitchell in the next over. New Zeland were reeling at 9/3 in 6.1 overs.
Just when New Zealand might have breathed a sigh of relief after the first bowling change, Hardik Pandya and Shardul Thakur took on the attack. In his very first over, Pandya struck with a breathtaking caught and bowled dismissal of New Zealand’s Devon Conway. A video of the stunning catch was shared by BCCI on Twitter and it got viral in no time on social media.
“𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧. 𝗔. 𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛! Talk about a stunning grab! @hardikpandya7 took a BEAUT of a catch on his own bowling,” tweeted BCCI.
Pandya’s dismissal of Conway meant that New Zealand were 15/4 in 9.4 overs. Under immense pressure, the visitors lost another wicket in the next over as Thakur got rid of captain Tom Latham to reduce them to 15/5 in 10.3 overs. None of the top five batters from New Zealand could reach the two-figure mark. Conway was the highest scorer among the top five, with 7 off 16 balls to his name.
