JAIPUR, Dec 1 (PTI): Gautam Gambhir stamped his authority with a majestic century as India romped to a convincing eight-wicket win thereby taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here today.
Gambhir, the stand-in captain led by example carrying his bat through the innings for an unbeaten 116-ball 138, after S Sreesanth�s inspired spell at the death helped the hosts restrict New Zealand to 258 for eight in the second one-dayer.
Virat Kohli, after his match-winning hundred in the series opener in Guwahati, continued to impress, compiling a neat 64 off 73 balls. But by the time Ross Taylor produced a blinder at short midwicket to send Kohli back, the issue was more or less sealed.
This was Gambhir�s first century in almost a year, the last one coming in the home series against Sri Lanka on Christmas eve when he smashed an unbeaten 150 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Gambhir�s knock was decorated with 18 sweetly timed hits to the fence and a six.
During their march to victory, India had two fruitful partnerships � Gambhir and Murali Vijay gave the hosts a solid start putting on 87 runs for the first wicket, before Kohli joined the captain to forge a century stand that made only one result possible: An India victory.
Gambhir then, in the company of Yuvraj Singh, completed the task in the 43rd over.
Both Gambhir and Kohli got to their personal landmarks with boundaries. Kohli pulled Kyle Mills over square-leg boundary to notch up his eight ODI fifty, and moments later, Gambhir reached his hundred by dispatching McKay over midwicket, his eighth ton in this format of the game.
Earlier, Sreesanth took the important wickets of opener Jamie How, Styris, Vettori and Mills to finish with impressive figures of four for 47 in nine overs, the sole reason India managed to restrict the visitors to a manageable total after Styris and Vettori threatened to take the match away with a swashbuckling half-century stand.
Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan and Ravichandran Ashwin took a wicket each even as opener Martin Guptill played the sheet-anchor�s role to perfection.
The Kiwi was given out in controversial circumstances when he fell caught behind to Ashwin after making a painstaking fifty. His innings was laced with three boundaries and a lofted six off Pathan over midwicket.
Styris and Vettori took over after Guptill�s dismissal. Styris powered his way to a breezy 59 off 56 balls with the help of five fours and a huge six, while Vettori contributed 31 off 32, an innings that included four hits to the fence.
SCORECARD
New Zealand: Martin Guptill c Saha b Ashwin 70, Jamie How c Saha b Sreesanth 5, Kane Williamson b Patel 29, Ross Taylor c Kohli b Pathan 15, Scott Styris c Saha b Sreesanth 59, Daniel Vettori b Sreesanth 31, Gareth Hopkins not out 11, Nathan McCullum run out 12, Kyle Mills b Sreesanth 13, Tim Southee not out 2. Extras: (LB-5, W-6) 11. Total: (for eight wickets, 50 overs) 258. Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-64, 3-96, 4-161, 5-219, 6-219, 7-242, 8-256. Bowling: Ashish Nehra 9-1-45-0, S Sreesanth 9-1-47-4, Munaf Patel 8-0-34-1, R Ashwin 10-0-52-1, Yuvraj Singh 9-1-48-0, Yusuf Pathan 4-0-23-1, Suresh Raina 1-0-4-0.
India innings: (Target: 259 runs from 50 overs). M Vijay b Vettori 33, G Gambhir not out 138, V Kohli c Taylor b McKay 64, Yuvraj Singh not out 16. Extras: (w 8) 8. Total: (2 wickets; 43 overs) 259. Bowling: NL McCullum 9-0-37-0, KD Mills 7-0-49 -0, AJ McKay 7-0-59-1, SB Styris 3 -0-20-0, DL Vettori 8-0-32-1,TG Southee 5-0-33-0, KS Williamson 4 -0-29-0.
