India captain Shubman Gill criticised his team’s bowlers as they failed to pick up wickets in the middle overs after losing the second ODI against New Zealand by seven wickets in Rajkot.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Gill said: “We couldn’t pick up any wickets in the middle overs. With five fielders in, if you don’t keep taking wickets in the middle overs, it becomes very difficult, even if we had added 15–20 more runs. If you don’t pick up wickets in the middle overs, it’s very difficult to defend a target. The kind of start we got with the ball, we were trying to squeeze them and put them under pressure, but I think they batted really well in the middle overs. In the first 10–15 overs, the ball was doing a little bit. But after 20–25 overs, the wicket may have settled a little. I think we could have been a bit braver while bowling in the middle overs and taken a few more chances.”
India put up 284 runs on the board after batting first. In reply, New Zealand lost both their openers for 46, but Daryl Mitchell then stitched together a match-winning partnership of 162 runs with Will Young, which laid the foundation for their victory. The Indian spinners, especially Kuldeep Yadav, were ineffective, with the left-armer conceding 82 runs and taking just one wicket in his 10 overs. The Indian bowlers failed to take a wicket between the 14th and 37th overs. Mitchell played an outstanding innings, scoring an unbeaten 131 off 117 balls to guide his team to victory.
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