Gautam Gambhir Returns To Form

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JAIPUR, INDIA (GaeaTimes.com)- India’s win against New Zealand in the 2nd ODI at Jaipur will allow Indian fans a sigh of relief as batting mainstay Gautam Gambhir has shown a great return to form with a smashing century. His century not only helped India cruise to an easy victory but also gave the selectors far more options before the ICC World Cup in 2011.

Batting first on a slow and low wicket the New Zealand batsmen struggled against the accurate Indian bowling courtesy S Sreesanth and Munaf Patel. There were also a couple of useful spells from Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh that kept the pressure on the New Zealand. A couple of half-centuries towards the end from Martin Guptill and Scott Styris allowed the visitors to post a somewhat competitive target of 259. For India Sreesanth was the pick of the bowlers who managed to take wickets at the most crucial points in the innings. His late movement troubled all the batsmen at the top and his pin point yorkers also fetched him a wicket towards the end of the innings. After going for 12 in the over, his removal of Kyle Mills with a sharp yorker saw the signature S Sreesanth aggression. The New Zealand innings folded at 258/8 at the end of 50 overs. Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay opened the batting for India.

In spite of Kyle Mills looking dangerous in the first over, Gautam Gambhir and Murali gave almost nothing away in the first 10 overs of the game, and therefore virtually taking away the game from New Zealand. Gautam Gambhir timed the balls to perfection and allowed the bowlers no room for error in his knock of 138* off 116 that saw India home with 8 wickets in hand.