Indian spin bowlers once again could not make an impact on home ground.

Rajkot: On the basis of Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 131-run innings and 162-run partnership for the third wicket with Will Young (87), New Zealand defeated India by seven wickets in the second ODI of the three-match series here on Wednesday.

Indian spin bowlers once again failed to make an impact on home ground and New Zealand achieved the target of 285 runs with 15 balls to spare and leveled the three-match series 1-1.

On the spinner-friendly pitch of Niranjan Shah Stadium, New Zealand not only adapted to the conditions better but also performed much better than India. Despite KL Rahul’s unbeaten inning of 112 runs in 91 balls (nine fours and one six), India could only score 284 runs for seven wickets.

New Zealand recovered from a bad start and won the match by scoring 286 runs for three wickets in 47.3 overs.

The decisive third ODI of the series will be played in Indore on Sunday.

Will Young and Daryl Mitchell, who played key roles in New Zealand’s 3-0 Test series win over India during their last visit to India, batted with composure and control in this match too, despite the required run rate being over six.

For the second wicket, both of them made a partnership of 162 runs in 152 balls and during this they were successful in keeping the run rate above five.

Will Young played a solid innings of 87 runs (seven fours) in 98 balls, which was fully supported by Mitchell’s excellent batting. Mitchell made effective use of the sweep shot to score his third century and eighth overall against India. He scored unbeaten 131 runs in 117 balls.

New Zealand’s victory in this 50-over match once again exposed the problem with which India has been struggling in Test cricket for the last two years. The problem is that even in home conditions, the Indian spin attack is vulnerable to the spinners of the visiting team.

Debutant left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox kept the Indian batsmen under excellent control and took one wicket for 42 runs in 10 overs. In contrast, Kuldeep Yadav (10 overs, 82 runs, one wicket) and Ravindra Jadeja (44 runs in eight overs) gave away 126 runs in 18 overs.

Kuldeep had to suffer the consequences of continuously bowling shots. In the 36th over of the innings, Prasidh Krishna dropped an easy catch at long on, giving Mitchell a lease of life on 80 runs.

Kuldeep broke the third wicket partnership by dismissing Young and soon after Mohammed Siraj trapped Mitchell LBW. However, the decision was overturned through DRS as the ball hit the inner edge of the bat.

Earlier, Michael Bracewell also bowled economically and took one wicket for 34 runs in 10 overs. New Zealand’s spinners took two wickets for 89 runs in 23 overs, including Glenn Phillips’ 13 wicketless overs.

New Zealand also showed composure when Harshit Rana (1 for 52) and Mohammed Siraj applied pressure with the new ball and after the powerplay the score was 34 for 1.

Rana gave a tough challenge to the New Zealand batsmen and uprooted the off stump of Devon Conway. -Conway had made a positive start by hitting three fours before getting out.

New Zealand’s bowlers, in a disciplined performance, removed four Indian wickets for 118 runs in the 24th over, whereas at one time the score was 99 runs for one wicket. There was no pace on the pitch and sometimes the ball was bouncing downwards which was causing problems to the batsmen.

Captain Shubhman Gill scored 56 runs in 53 balls, which is his second consecutive half-century in the series.

New Zealand’s bowlers started well and bowled very tightly. Rohit Sharma (24) had to wait for 11 balls to open his account. Rohit hit a brilliant drive through the covers but once again lost his wicket in an attempt to play a big shot.

He was caught by Will Young in deep cover off the ball of Christian Clarke. Clarke took three wickets for 56 runs in eight overs.

India’s opener Gill and then Shreyas Iyer (eight) were out after playing bad shots. Gill found his footing after a slow start and hit nine fours and a six over fine leg in his innings. However, he got dodged by the short ball of Kyle Jamieson and gave an easy catch to Daryl Mitchell at midwicket.

Iyer was caught by Mitchell Braswell in mid-off off Clarke’s ball. However, there was silence in Niranjan Shah Stadium after Virat Kohli was out.

Kohli hit a four on the first ball but was bowled by Clarke on the score of 23. Local star Ravindra Jadeja (27) was greeted enthusiastically by the audience. He also fulfilled his responsibility well by adding 73 runs for the fifth wicket with Rahul.

He returned by taking a return catch off Braswell’s ball. After this, Rahul added 57 runs with Nitish Kumar Reddy (20) for the sixth wicket. Rahul completed his century by hitting a six.

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