India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI: India win by 4 runs on DLS as rain ends chase; Gurnoor Brar’s 4/30 sets up 2-0 lead

Rain ended the India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI at Hnry Stadium, Wellington, on Saturday, 7 November, with India just ahead of the par score. They were 113 for seven after 26 overs, chasing 135, when heavy rain stopped play, and they won by four runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, with the par at 109. Gurnoor Brar’s four for 30 had earlier bowled New Zealand out for 134. India lead the five-match series 2-0.

Rain and a wet outfield pushed the start back an hour and cut the match to 47 overs a side. Shubman Gill won the toss and bowled. Our report from the toss has the delay and the two XIs. Auqib Nabi struck in the second over and again in the sixth, and Anshul Kamboj bowled Henry Nicholls to leave New Zealand at 23 for three.

Gurnoor Brar then took over. He removed Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in the same over to make it 53 for five, came back to dismiss Mitchell Santner for 31, and finished with four for 30 from his ten overs. Daryl Mitchell held the innings together with 55 from 104 balls, and his 59-run stand with Santner was the biggest of the innings. Kamboj took two for 25 and Axar Patel two for 28 as the last five wickets fell for 22 runs.

A shaky start to a small chase

A target of 135 looked simple until Jacob Duffy dismissed Gill for a duck in the second over and Virat Kohli for seven. Kyle Jamieson had Rohit Sharma caught for 23, and Axar went for seven to leave India at 47 for four in the 13th over. Shreyas Iyer steadied the chase with 30 from 46 balls and KL Rahul stayed with him.

Iyer fell at 86 for five in the 20th over. Naman Dhir made 12 before Jacob Duffy removed him in the 25th over, and Kyle Jamieson had Anshul Kamboj caught in the 26th, leaving Jamieson and Duffy with three wickets each. KL Rahul was unbeaten on 26 from 38 balls, with Auqib Nabi on one, when the rain came. India still needed 22 runs from 21 overs, but play did not resume and the match was called off at 11 pm local time, or 3.30 pm IST.

The first match of the series went India’s way by five wickets at Eden Park on Wednesday, 4 November. The third ODI is at Hamilton on Tuesday, 10 November.