In the first innings of the decisive final One-Day International at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, New Zealand’s seamers took advantage of the surface and the conditions to dismiss India for 219. Before switching to Mitchell Santner, Kane Williamson used 42 seam overs. Adam Milne took three of the top five Indian wickets.

After New Zealand chose to bowl, Daryl Mitchell took three wickets and struck twice in the middle overs to break India’s batting back. Washington Sundar’s first half-century, which came after Shreyas Iyer’s 49 at No.3: India might not have been able to reach 200. Due to a ten-minute delay caused by a light drizzle, Tim Southee and Matt Henry were able to largely silence the openers, Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill. 

This despite Dhawan frequently charging the pacers with his feet in an effort to distract them.

After sprinting down the track, he hit his first two boundaries, a four over cover-point and a six over long-on. His efforts to score more were harmed when he shot 25 off 36 at the ten-over mark. After facing 11 dots, Gill hit two fours—a delectable drive through extra cover and a front-foot pull through midwicket—before flicking one to forward square leg to take Milne’s first wicket.

Milne, who was in the XI in place of Michael Bracewell, got Dhawan to play one on through the inside edge after another slink down the wicket. He did, however, grass Iyer at deep third in the interim. The ship was steered for a while by Iyer and Rishabh Pant, but they did not really gain any momentum toward India. 

Iyer looked far from guaranteed, timing his slices and punches through the off side while additionally not avoiding the hurls through midwicket. But Suryakumar Yadav edged one to slip off Milne for the second time in the series, and Mitchell, who had only taken one wicket in ODIs prior to Wednesday, bowled Pant out. Devon Conway took a well-timed catch running in from sweeper cover after Iyer, who appeared poised to score his second half-century in the series, sliced one aerially. 

Conway had been running in from sweeper cover. India were in disarray just over halfway through the innings, at 121 for 5. At the point when Deepak Hooda fell with India’s score on 149, the vacationers were at risk for being misguided by the 200-run mark. However, following his unbeaten 16-ball 37 in the first ODI, Washington demonstrated his batsmanship for the second time in the series. 

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He scored his first fifty and then added 31 with Yuzvendra Chahal (8 in 22 balls) for the eighth wicket before being the final player to be run out. After the second game was abandoned due to rain, New Zealand took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Additionally, the hosts should maintain their enviable record in Christchurch unless something unexpected occurs.