Virat Kohli all praise for "clinical" Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah's evolution

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have been phenomenal in the limited-overs cricket of late and been the chief protagonists in the Indian team's dominance in world cricket. When India arrived in Pune for the second ODI with their backs against the wall - for the first time after a long time - the duo decided to pull off their best out of their top drawer to restrict New Zealand to a sub-par score of 230/9 in 50 overs.

The modest target helped the Indian batsmen settle down on the wicket and they didn't take any unwanted risks after Virat Kohli's dismissal. Happy by that, Kohli was effusive with his strike bowlers' evolution and had some words of praise after the match. "Bowlers were really clinical today and fielders as well. Both those guys (Kumar and Bumrah) are coming along nicely. They know they are going to start more often than not. Today, with the wicket being slow, it was heartening to see them getting wickets in conventional ways," said Kohli after India's six-wicket win over New Zealand in the second ODI.

Shikhar Dhawan, who was in a very good nick in the Sri Lanka series, was dismissed by Trent Boult in the Mumbai ODI and his inability to understand the away-going deliveries of left-arm bowlers got exposed. But yesterday, he picked up Boult's length rather quickly and punished his away-going deliveries without any problem. He was equally at home when facing his inswinging balls and helped India secure a victory without any problem.

"Dhawan has been playing really well. He's striking the ball really well. He's pretty confident at the moment," Kohli said on him.

Dhawan was brilliantly supported by Dinesh Karthik, who became the latest player to join India's No.4 conundrum. While the wicket was a bit on the slower side and demanded a lot more technique and patience than usual, Karthik stayed on the crease and applied himself beautifully to score his ninth international half-century.

"Dinesh got some crucial runs for himself as well as the team. I look forward to challenges. We spoke about bouncing back, and we have bounced back here today. Would look to play similar sort of cricket in Kanpur as well,” Kohli said at the post-match presser. 

Reflecting on his game, Karthik said at the end of the match, "I would like to think so (that the form is getting better). It is important to spend as much time in the middle. It was even more important for me to be there when we won the match and I am happy that I was able to do that. Maybe I took a little more time but with confidence, the runs will flow. So far so good (on the comeback)."

"I have had a lot of demons to fight and these things happen inside you. In the end lot of credit to Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli. Afternoon it (the surface) was okay, when the ball was new it was coming on and when it got scuffed up, the odd ball was turning. I am not able to put it exactly to what I am feeling. I have got a good score and need to take confidence from this match to win more matches,” added Karthik.