IND v NZ, 1st ODI: Iyer, Dhawan, Gill slam half-centuries, propel India to 306/7

Shreyas Iyer topscored with 80 off 76 balls while captain Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill struck 72 and 50 respectively in their fourth hundredplus stand as an opening pair this year to propel India to a challenging 3067 in 50 overs in their ODI series opener against New Zealand at Eden Park on FridayOn a dropin pitch where batting wasnt easy initially India were aided by Dhawan and Gill having a solid opening stand of 124 in 231 overs after overcoming a slow start Despite India losing four wickets for 36 runs in the middle stage of the innings Iyer got India running towards a huge total by stitching a 94run stand with Sanju Samson 36Washington Sundar applied finishing touches for India with an unbeaten blitz of 37 off 16 balls smacking three fours and as many sixes to take India past 300 as 96 runs came off the last 10 overs For New Zealand Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson took three wickets each while Adam Milne had a scalp to his namePushed into batting first Dhawan got the innings going with a beautiful straight drive down the ground and hit three more fours in the powerplay With the pitch not being an easy one to bat on New Zealand were able to keep him and Shubman Gill in check throughout the powerplay though the latter tonked Matt Henry over longon for six and used his pace to ramp another maximum over keepers headGill brought up Indias fifty in the 13th over with a delightful cut but India needed Dhawan to up the ante That happened when he cracked a cut through backward point off Ferguson in the 15th over and ended the over with a nice chip through midwicket to collect backtoback foursHe then feasted on width provided by Adam Milne in the 19th over cutting twice uppishly to amass a brace of fours Dhawan got his fifty when he heaved over longon for four off Milne in the 21st over and four balls later brought up the century of the opening partnership by ramping over keepers head for fourThree overs later Gill would reach his halfcentury as India reached 1240 in 23 overs as the duo collectively hit 34 runs in last 18 balls of the innings But New Zealand made a comeback as Lockie Ferguson broke the opening partnership by having Gil flick straight to deep square legIn the next over Dhawan sliced straight to backward point and became the 200th ODI wicket of Tim Southee Iyer had a charmed start surviving an lbw appeal and dropped by keeper Tom Latham while trying to ramp a short ball over his head Ferguson got the momentum in New Zealands favour when he had Rishabh Pant chopping on to his stumps and inform Suryakumar Yadav edging within four balls of the 33rd overAlso readNew Zealand win toss opt to field against India in 1st ODI Arshdeep Umran make debutsIyer then pressed the accelerator with his trademark slash loft and pull off the front foot to get his fifty At the same time he found an able ally in Samson who found most of his boundaries by using pace from the bowlers to dab or flick and find the gaps with easeThough Samson holed out to fielder in the deep off Milne Washington stepped up by smacking Southee over wide longon for six and then ramped Milne for another maximum over third man He then hit Henry for two fours and a six in the 49th over before hitting another boundary in the final over to take India past 300 despite Iyer and Shardul Thakur falling on the either side of itBrief Scores India 3067 in 50 overs Shreyas Iyer 80 Shikhar Dhawan 72 Lockie Ferguson 359 Tim Southee 373 against New ZealandThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever