Auckland: Indian bowlers came out with a much improved performance as they restricted New Zealand to 273/8 in the second ODI at the Eden Park on Saturday.
Taylor, who had guided the hosts to a thrilling victory in Hamilton, once again starred with the bat as she played a crucial knock of unbeaten 72.
Put into bat, the Black Caps were provided with a great start as Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 93 runs for the opening wicket. Both the openers started cautiously as the Indian pacers bowled on great lines and lengths and didn’t provide them with the width to free their arms.
After seeing the early phase, both Guptill and Nicholls started picking up runs and laid down the platform for a huge first-innings total. However, it was leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who drew first blood and scalped Nicholls at his individual score of 41.
Tom Blundell (22), who came in next, then stayed for a while before getting caught at mid-on by Navdeep Saini while trying to pull a short ball bowled by Shardul Thakur.
In the 30th over, Guptill was undone by a brilliant piece of fielding by Thakur, who got the New Zealand opener run-out by K.L. Rahul. Guptill, 33, scored 79 runs off 79 balls, which included 8 boundaries and 3 sixes.
That wicket of Guptill opened the floodgates as the hosts lost a flurry of wickets. From 157/3, they were reduced to 197/8 and were looking to be restricted below 250. However, debutant fast bowler Kyle Jamieson (25*) then stitched a brilliant partnership of 76-runs for the ninth wicket with Taylor to give New Zealand bowlers something to bowl and clinch their first ODI series win over India in six years.
Chahal was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he picked up three wickets, giving away 58 runs in his 10 overs. Thakur also picked two wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja scalped one giving away just 35 runs.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 273/8 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 79, Ross Taylor 72*, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/58)
