IND vs NZ 2nd ODI: KL Rahul scores gritty century vs New Zealand, first Indian to get a ton at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium
India’s KL Rahul on Wednesday steadied the Men in Blue’s innings after they were in a bit of bother after losing stalwarts like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, scoring a patient century, his 8th ODI ton of his career. Rahul, who came in at No.5, took 87 deliveries to get to his 100 in an innings peppered with 9 fours and 1 six. He was also the first Indian batter to get to a century at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium.
In the 1st ODI at Vadodara, in a 301-run chase that seemed to fritter with a flurry of wickets against New Zealand on Sunday, Rahul took his time to settle in but eventually quelled the nerves by sealing a four-wicket win for India. He got them across the line with some flair too, smashing the winning six for the sixth time in his career. Only the legendary MS Dhoni has done it on more counts (9) for India in one-dayers.
Earlier, New Zealand skipper Michael Bracewell opted to bowl in the second One-day International against India on Wednesday.
The visitors made one change to the side, which lost the opening game by four wickets at Vadoara, giving ODI debut to 31-year-old left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox in place of Adithya Ashok.
India skipper Shubman Gill also made one change, bringing in pacer Nitish Kumar Reddy in place of Washington Sundar, who got injured in Vadodara.
