India took on New Zealand in the first ODI of the three-match series on Wednesday (18 January) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bat first as India have been winning matches batting first. The opening pair of Sharma and Shubman Gill once again got India off to a flyer as the duo put on 52 runs in the first ten overs.
Both Gill and Sharma played aggressively and accumulated runs at a quick rate. However, the Indian openers’ party was spoiled when Rohit Sharma mistimed a lofted shot and was dismissed after scoring 34 runs off 38 balls. Blair Tickner got the best out of Sharma as the pacer got the Indian captain caught at mid-on.
It was another start thrown away by Sharma and fans were obviously not impressed with it. Fans expressed their disappointment through tweets.
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Soon after Sharma was dismissed, India lost Virat Kohli too. Mitchell Santner got the star batter as he cleaned him up. Ishan Kishan too departed cheaply as Lockie Ferguson surprised the southpaw with a bumper. However, Shubman Gill stood tall for India as the opening batter scored his third ODI century.