India vs New Zealand | Takeaways: Vijay Shankar’s redemption and Hardik Pandya’s six-hitting ability

In the domestic circle, Vijay Shankar is highly regarded as a grafter and a solid middle-order batsman. His ability to grind out at the time of need and open the arms to score with a high strike rate at other times made him Tamil Nadu’s most-trusted batsman despite the presence of Murali Vijay and Baba Indrajith. However, the Nidahas Trophy final, which was the only innings where he got a chance to bat for India until today, made a public perception that he is a bits-and-pieces cricketer, doing holding job in the middle overs with the ball and mediocre with that. Shankar needed a moment of his own to prove that he is more than that and Wellington gave him a chance to do just that.

When Shankar came out to bat, India were in tatters, losing four wickets for 18 and had just lost MS Dhoni. It was a difficult time to make your first appearance with the bat in ODI cricket, as Shubman Gill would attest. But Shankar immediately made himself comfortable and despite the new ball doing a fair bit, he kept his stance tighter and only opened it when the ball was outside of the line. He didn’t hesitate to shuffle across despite Trent Boult getting the ball to move back in and his trigger movement was pretty much alright. It was the exact method one batsman needs to apply when unsure about the movement and the Tamil Nadu batsman was up to the task from the first ball he faced today. This 45 will definitely be special for him. 

India, in no uncertain terms, had made it clear that they were looking at the series as an opportunity to give sufficient match time to the players ahead of the World Cup and were unfazed about the result of the series. Keeping that in mind, Rohit Sharma decided to bat first despite knowing that the moisture would work against their batsmen. It was a brave decision, but as expected, New Zealand bowlers found their groove almost instantly to reduce India to 18/4. Then, India promoted Vijay Shankar to partner Ambati Rayudu, and the duo played their part to perfection. 

Bowling full or short wasn't the only plan the Kiwis quicks had as they were also disciplined enough to consistently bowl outside off as well to induce that odd edge. Until the 35th over of the innings, India failed to score more boundary behind square on the leg side. There were no fine tickles or guiding shots because you can play these shots only to balls veering in towards leg stump and Kiwi pacers didn’t give enough chances. Spinners also stood out in that aspect. However, Hardik Pandya got into the groove very soon. After seeing out the only ball of Todd Astle, he hit him for three consecutive sixes which brought back the memories of his assault against Adam Zampa in Indore in 2017.