In a do-or-die battle at Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium, India's new ball bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah once again proved why they are the best limited-overs pacemen in the current side.
Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah have been captain Virat Kohli's go-to men. Time and again they have delivered the goods in the shorter formats - be it in One Day Internationals or Twenty20 Internationals.
Today (October 25), India entered the second ODI against New Zealand needing to win to keep the three-match series alive.
Also read: India-NZ 2nd ODI match report
And after rival skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to take first strike on a good batting pitch, the hosts' bowlers struck brilliantly to restrict them to 230/9 in 50 overs.
It was Bhuvneshwar, who triggered India's domination in the crunch contest when he sent back opener Martin Guptill (11) in the third over. Soon, Bumrah trapped key batsman Williamson (3) LBW in the sixth over.
These two early blows meant the visitors never recovered. Bhuvneshwar added the scalps of Colin Munro (10) and Henry Nicholls (42) while Bumrah dismissed Mitchell Santner (29).
The MCA Stadium in Pune is known for high scores. It is never easy to be a bowler on the 22-yard strip here. However, it all changed on Wednesday, thanks to Indian bowlers' efforts.
The average first innings ODI score was 327 but the Kiwis were too far from that. Such top-class was India's bowling.
After failing to defend 280 at Mumbai's iconic Wankhede Stadium in the series opener on Sunday (October 22), it was necessary for the "Men in Blue" bowlers to bounce back and they did that perfectly.
In recent times, Bhuvneshwar, 27, and 23-year-old Bumrah have been India's best fast bowlers. So, when it was the need of the hour to lift the team, they did it in Pune.
The combined bowling figures of Bhuvneshwar (3/45) and Bumrah (2/38) were 5/83 in 20 overs. Bumrah was outstanding, with two maidens and bowling at an economy rate of 3.8.
On the tour to Sri Lanka recently, Bumrah was the Man-of-the-series with 15 wickets as India completed a historic 5-0 ODI whitewash.
The batsmen later chased down 231 and levelled the series and headed to Kanpur (October 29) for the decider.
Well done Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah, India's new B2 weapon.
