The pacer duo of Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj shone as Team India defeated New Zealand with flying colours, in the second ODI on Saturday. The hosts thrashed New Zealand by 8 wickets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Opting to bowl first, the Rohit Sharma-led side bundled out the visitors for 108, courtesy of a three-wicket haul from Mohammad Shami. On the other hand, Siraj registered the brilliant figures of 1/10 in 6 overs. Later, Team India chased down the target in just 20.1 overs with eight wickets in hand, thanks to Rohit and Shubman Gill’s 51 and 40* runs respectively.
After facing the defeat, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham addressed the media and praised Shami and Siraj, calling them “quality bowlers” who didn’t give a single chance to the visitors in the match.
“Anytime that Siraj and Shami are in the side – they’re obviously quality bowlers and as I said they were both relentless in terms of the lines and lengths they bowled and they gave us nothing to score from,” said Latham.
“Fortunately for them, it was their day and unfortunately for us, we weren’t able to absorb enough pressure and put that back on them,” he added.
The Indian new ball bowlers ran riot on a pitch that had decent grass cover, making use of the favourable bowling conditions on offer. Mohammad Shami was the wreaker-in-chief, scalping three wickets. Hardik Pandya and Washington Sundar picked two wickets each. While Siraj, Kuldeep and Shardul took one wicket each.
