The India national cricket team was in New Zealand for some time. The two national squads competed in all formats, paving the way for a lot of great cricket action in the land of Kiwis. First, they started with T20 matches? five of them in total. Then they proceeded to three ODIs and finished with two Test games. Needless to say, India showed superiority against New Zealand with a 5-0 score in the T20s. However, the ODIs offered a completely different scenario as New Zealand won 3-0. Finally, the two teams met for Tests.
Right now, there's one more Test game left before the India national team can proceed to play three ODIs and a World T20 game against South Africa. After that, the team will disassemble for a couple of months, as the players need to prepare for the start of the IPL 13. Many cricket lovers believe that IPL 13 is going to be the biggest cricket team competition so far. According to cricket scores, the opening game of the IPL 13 will be between last year's finalists? the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings. The amount of professionalism and team spirit displayed by India, especially in the T20s in New Zealand was amazing. On the other hand, it seems that ODIs were a format more suitable for the players from New Zealand, as they managed to turn the tide completely. Let's take a quick overview of these two formats and see how India performed against the Kiwis.
T20 Matches Overview
The first game between the two national teams took place on January 24, and that was the first time India's team showed they are not playing around. In the end, India won by 6 wickets with 6 balls left. Shreyas Iyer received the Player of the Match title with 58* (29). The second game also took place at Eden Park and India won once again with seven wickets and 15 balls left. This time, K.L. Rahul had an outstanding performance and was the player of the match with 57* (50).
The third match was at Seddon Park two days after the initial one. This match was the most intense one up to that point, with the Indian team winning the Super Over. Rohit Sharma dominated the game with 65 (40) & 15 (4). At that point, India clearly showed that they plan to go 5-0 in the Twenty20s against New Zealand. The fourth T20 match was played at Wellington Regional Stadium on January 31 where India won the Super Over with one ball left. The player of the match was Shardul Thakur with 2/33 (4) & 20 (15).
The last Twenty20 match took place on February 2 at Bay Oval and was won by India by seven runs, making 5-0. K.L Rahul was proclaimed Player of the Series, while Jasprit Bumrah received the Player of the Match title with 3/12 (4). By completing the series, India had a huge advantage for the upcoming ODIs. Needless to say, they failed to use that and ended up losing 3-0 to New Zealand.
ODI Matches Overview
The first ODI match took place at Seddon Park on February 5 where New Zealand won by four wickets, with Ross Taylor being the player of the match (109* (84)). Three days after the first match, the two teams went back to Eden Park, and the national team of New Zealand got even more comfortable against its opponent, winning by 22 runs. The last ODI match took place at Bay Oval on February 11, and New Zealand?s team once again showed its superiority in this format. Ross Taylor was the player of the series, whereas Henry Nicholls was the player of the match. India lost by 5 wickets with 17 balls left.
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