Ishan Kishan seemingly sacrificed his wicket for senior Virat Kohli in the 3rd ODI against New Zealand and departed for 17. On the 3rd delivery of the 35th over, Kishan tapped the ball and straightaway called for a run. Kohli quickly left his crease and charged towards the striker’s end.
Cover fielder Henry Nicholls was quick to collect the ball and he passed it to the wicketkeeper, who ran out Kishan. The replays showed that Kishan sacrificed his wicket for Kohli. Kishan could have easily come back to his crease. But he allowed Kohli to reach the other end.
The wicketkeeper-batsman was visibly frustrated and showed his disappointment to Kohli on his way back to the pavilion. Kishan didn’t quite enjoy a perfect stay in the middle and took 24 balls to score 17 runs.
Kohli, who had the big responsibility after Kishan’s departure, only managed to score 9 more runs and was dismissed for 36 off 27 balls. The former India captain played straight into the hands of mid-off fielder, Blair Tickner.
While other batters are struggling to get big scores, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill had a dream day in the middle and scored centuries. Rohit reached his 30th ODI ton first and smashed 101 off 85 balls. It was his first ODI century since January 2020.
Gill, who is enjoying a dream run in ODI cricket, scored his 3rd century of the year. He had kicked off the series with a double-century and once again breached the three-figure mark. Rohit and Gill added 212 runs for the first wicket. India have lost 4 wickets for 72 runs since then.
A win in the 3rd ODI will see India whitewash NZ in the series. India’s scoring rate is still high and the Men in Blue will aim to breach the 350-run mark. Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have the onus to propel the team to a big total.
