(Cricket news) New Zealand defeated India in the 1st ODI by 7 wickets in a comfortable fashion. Kane Williamson won the toss and put India into bat first. New Zealand left Jimmy Neesham on the bench as they went with a full time bowler with Daryl Mitchell as the part timer. The decision meant that Mitchell Santner was at number 7 and Tim Southee at number 8 which made the batting weaker. India handed ODI debuts to Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik and the team surprisingly went with only 5 bowling options as Sanju Samson was picked over Deepak Hooda. Deepak Chahar was also left on the bench and he was seen doing some body work during the match which suggests that he may not be fully fit.

Batting first India got off to a great start by Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill. The skipper scored 72 off 77 balls hitting 13 fours in his innings. Dhawan being among the runs in this format is extremely good for India. Gill also continued his incredible ODI form by scoring 50 off 65 balls including 1 four and 3 sixes. India were 124/0 after which they lost Dhawan, Gill, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession. India were suddenly 160/4 and looked to be in big trouble. 

Shreyas Iyer played a gem of a knock scoring 80 off 76 balls. He hit 4 boundaries and a maximum to get India to a good total. Samson supported him well by scoring a 38 ball 36. Washington Sundar played a beautiful cameo of 37 off just 16 balls to get India's total to 306. The Kiwi bowlers did well in the middle overs by picking up wickets. Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson got 3 scalps each while Adam Milne chipped in with a wicket. 

New Zealand had a decent start but then both their openers – Devon Conway and Finn Allen were dismissed. Umran Malik was on fire in his first spell generating some great pace as he dismissed Conway and Daryl Mitchell. Williamson and Tom Latham steadied things down with some exquisite batting in the middle overs. They led New Zealand to a very comfortable win in the end with 7 wickets and 17 balls to spare. The partnership between the two was worth it with Latham scoring 145 runs off 104 balls and Williamson getting 90 off 97 balls. The Indian bowlers lost their way in the middle overs as they failed to break the partnership. India need to come back stronger and maybe with a 6th bowling option because that's what is lacking.

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