Shikhar Dhawan joins Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar in an elite club of Indian batters with his 72-run knock vs NZ
India started the ODI series with a loss in the first ODI against New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland. It was a run feast for both the teams with two big partnerships from both teams. India started the game with 120+ partnerships.
On the other hand, New Zealand finished the game with 220+ runs in unbeaten partnerships to register a thumping win over the visitors. For India, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and skipper Shikhar Dhawan scored a half-century each. Iyer made 80 off 76, while Gill scored 50 off 65.
The Indian stand-in skipper made a solid 72 off 77 balls. With this knock, the veteran opener achieved a big milestones and joined an elite list of big Indian names. With this half-century, Dhawan became the 7th Indian batter to complete 12000 runs in a List A cricket.
Prior to this inning, the southpaw needed another 43 runs to complete 12,000 runs, and he got them in this inning itself. It started when the hosts won the toss and chose to bowl first. India has rested their seniors, which is why Dhawan is leading Team India.
So far in his career, Dhawan has scored 6744 runs in 162 ODIs. He has also scored 17 hundreds and 30 half-centuries. On the other hand, he has been one of the most consistent batters for his state team, Delhi.
Aside from Dhawan, Sourav Ganguly (15622 runs in 437 games), Rahul Dravid (15271 runs in 449 games), Virat Kohli (13786 runs in 296 games), MS Dhoni (13353 runs in 423 games), and Yuvraj Singh (12633 runs in 423 games) are also members of this elite club, with Sachin Tendulkar leading the way with 21999 runs in 551 games.
India started well with a 124-run partnership, and it was the fourth 100-plus stand between Dhawan and Gill in the ninth innings. India made a competitive total of 306/7. But New Zealand had a huge, unbeaten partnership of 221 runs between skipper Kane Williamson and Tom Latham.
Latham scored a brilliant century and took the attack to the Indian bowlers. He made 145 not out off 104 balls with 19 fours and five sixes, while Williamson remained unbeaten on 94 off 98 balls. Both teams will play the next game on Sunday.