IND vs NZ | Could consider changes for final ODI, admits Virat Kohli

For the second match running, Team India were downed by a spirited - and considerably weakened - New Zealand side who outclassed the Men in Blue in all three departments to seal the match and subsequently the series. After having the Kiwis at their mercy at one stage with the ball, India let Ross Taylor and Kyle Jamieson take the hosts to a respectable total, after which the Black Caps pinned the visitors down from the very beginning to script a 22-run win.

Skipper Virat Kohli, on the back of the defeat, admitted that he would definitely consider making changes for the final ODI at the Bay Oval, with a series win out of the team’s reach.

“We could consider changes in the final game, since we have nothing to lose now. We'll play expressive cricket and not worry too much about the result. It's upto the individuals to fight till the end,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

With India’s score 153/7 at one stage, it looked like the match was ended for a quick finish, but an astonishing 76-run partnership from the duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Navdeep Saini - which saw the former score 55 and the latter score 45 - took the Men in Blue within touching distance of winning the game, but eventually, the Kiwis held their nerve to clinch the match and the series.

Kohli expressed his delight over the fight shown by the lower-order batsmen and lavished praise on them and went on to add that the top-order, that combinedly scored just 42 runs in today’s encounter, could take heart and inspiration from Jadeja and Saini’s efforts, heading forward. 

“I'm impressed with how we finished. We let things slip away from 197-8 to 270+ in the first half but came back strongly with the second half of our batting. We were in trouble with the bat, but Saini and Jadeja played really well, as did Shreyas. 

“We didn't know how good Saini could be with the bat, so if the lower order could be that good, then it inspires the middle order and the top order to step it up too.”

The third and final ODI will be played at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on February 11.