India on Sunday earned a scintillating victory against New Zealand in a nail biter at the Green Park stadium in Kanpur, helping the home team earn a seventh straight series win in One-day internationals (ODIs). Chasing a mammoth 338-run target, the Kiwis fell agonisingly short after managing 331 for seven in their allotted 50 overs. The visitors were cruising along before Jasprit Bumrah ran set batsman Tom Latham out at a crucial juncture of the match and virtually shifted the game in India's favour. It was MS Dhoni who threw the ball to Bumrah and the bowler aimed the direct hit with precision.
Latham was running at the non-striker's end and Bumrah had enough time to run back and hit the stumps. Probably, Dhoni was trying to explain this to the bowler. The former India captain was left in splits after the wicket, but the reaction could have been different, had it not hit the stumps.
Virat Kohli and team were staring a defeat at Kanpur till the time Latham was batting. But the Indian bowlers, held their nerves at the death and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
For India, pacer Bumrah scalped three wickets and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets. New Zealand needed 15 runs off the last over. Kohli's decision of giving the ball to the death-over specialist Bumrah worked perfectly for India as the right-arm pacer hardly gave anything away. Bumrah conceded just eight runs in the final over to deny Kiwis a series win. Rohit was the top scorer for India with 147 runs while Kohli slammed 113 to cross the milestone of 9,000 ODI runs.
