The Indian innings has been kept together by Shubman Gill, who has done so despite the regular loss of wickets at the other end. Even though Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav all fell at the other end, the opener struck his third ODI century, his second in consecutive innings and third overall in the format, in only 87 balls by maintaining an aggressive batting stance.
There was such controversy regarding the dismissal of Hardik Pandya in this game. At first glance, it seemed like Pandya had chopped on into the wicket. The on-field umpire had to refer to the third umpire. Replays revealed that wicketkeeper Tom Latham’s gloves knocked off the bails about a nanosecond before he retrieved the ball, not because of Pandya’s assistance.
Hardik Pandya did not chop it on. The third umpire ruled this to be an out, despite the fact that no reasonable person would have made such a call. Quite a bizarre choice; maybe we will learn more about the reasoning behind it at a later time; in any case, Pandya went back to the Pavillion without a reasonable score.
Rohit Sharma had won the toss and elected to bat. India made three changes as Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Shardul Thakur replaced KL Rahul, Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer. The team captained by Rohit Sharma will be full of confidence following their recent series win over Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli, with two stunning hundreds, was India’s major destructor. New Zealand, on the other hand, will struggle in the series opener without key players like Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Kane Williamson, and Trent Boult. The visitors, though, are overflowing with confidence, after upsetting Pakistan last week.
India XI: India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami.
New Zealand XI: Tom Latham (wk/c), Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Henry Shipley, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson and Blair Tickner
Twitter Reacts:
Big mistake for umpire https://t.co/pbebMAegVO
— Nagajan (@Nagop84358027) January 18, 2023
Horrible decision from Third umpire Anantha Padmanabhan. Very poor considering the technology which is at disposal and it is very much visible to naked eye that ball left the stump, it is keeper's gloves which hit the stumps and not ball. #INDvsNZ #HardikPandya https://t.co/Wd8XUfVFfr
— Sai Charan Gonuguntla (@Charangonuguntl) January 18, 2023
Hardik Pandya st Latham b TV umpire 😂#Hardik #INDvsNZ #decision #3rdumpire https://t.co/042GeT16Xg
— Aadi Shah (@AadiSpeaks) January 18, 2023
https://twitter.com/18thDec2022/status/1615667013468434435?s=20&t=890rf4urS7AETFhoEQ2ffg
Wth pandya wasn't out 🙄 https://t.co/gzIxpqr1fL
— Astha (@Fledgling_ria) January 18, 2023
Imagine if pakistani batsman given out like this against India
Pura pakistan fixing ka rr kar Raha hota https://t.co/OOwoIVf9IL— ug 🇦🇷 (@ugg_____) January 18, 2023
The 3rd umpire during that decision https://t.co/8DZjchGIa9 pic.twitter.com/PfP5V7p73t
— Gautam Sriram (@gautam241094) January 18, 2023
