INDIA CRICKET NEWS: TOM LATHAM AND ROSS TAYLORS PARTNERSHIP WINS THE FIRST ODI AGAINST INDIA

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Ross Taylor and Tom Latham played brilliantly to guide as New Zealand defeated India by 6 wickets in the first ODI in Mumbai. Earlier. Virat Kohli slammed his 31st ODI century to take the hosts to 280/8.

Kohli: On a personal note, the knock was pretty satisfying purely because of the fact that NZ put us under pressure initially. 275+ was good on that wicket, but NZ batted really well in the second half. Ross and Tom were outstanding, they deserved to win today. When you get a 200-run partnership in ODI cricket, more often than not you end up on the winning side. Putting the dew into perspective in the last 13-14 overs, we were definitely about 30-40 runs short. In the second half, the wicket settled down nicely. Would have liked to have a better batting performance. However, from where we were, 280 was a competitive score, and we got three wickets as well. But they closed the doors on us. They tackled our spinners really well. They picked their areas. Credit to them. Tom especially. Enjoyed watching him. Not many games in international cricket but he showed a lot of character. Trent also bowled really well. The wicket had enough bounce and turn. If the game had drifted away from us earlier, we could have brought Kedar in. But Hardik did a pretty good job for us, and we didn’t feel the need.

Tom Latham is Man of the Match

Latham: It was pretty humid out there. Keeping for 50 overs and then batting is pretty tough. Conditions back home are pretty different, so nice to see it through. Whatever suits the team, and at the moment that No. 5 position is up for grabs. It’s something I’ve been working on – the reverse sweep. Nice that it came off today. The biggest thing is communication, and we were talking regularly between overs. Ross had a calming influence as a senior player.

Williamson, winning captain: Brilliant performance. The way we set the tone with the new ball was outstanding. We stuck it out well throughout that innings. Great hundred from Virat, becoming fairly normal. And then to see a partnership like that.. one of the best chases I’ve seen during my time in the Black Caps. The bowling performance in this humidity was a great effort and the lads stuck to the task. The way Tom and Ross controlled the innings was superb. 200-run partnership was a special, special partnership. You want to take the game deep over here. There were still a few more batsmen in the shed. A great team performance today. Very challenging weather. Have been here for close to two weeks now. Guys had a great attitude, stuck to the task well.