At the second One-Day International in Raipur, hosts India humiliated New Zealand, giving them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Aakash Chopra, a former Indian opener, was dismayed by Tom Latham’s New Zealand following their dismal performance in the first-ever international match in Raipur. For the second game in a row, the Kiwi top-order struggled, and this time, the lower-order batsmen offered little resistance, which helped explain their meager 108-run total. Since it was the first international match to be held at the venue, former cricketer turned expert Aakash Chopra anticipated a stronger showing from the Kiwis.
“It was the first international match on the Raipur ground. I had great hopes that it would be an amazing match because obviously, it has got another charm. But what is this – 108 runs, what are you doing?” Chopra said on his YouTube channel. When Mohammed Shami dismissed New Zealand’s explosive opener Finn Allen in the first over of the game, the floodgates opened for the home team. Just after the first powerplay ended, they lost steam and dropped to 15/5, facing a humiliating total. Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, and Mitchell Santner, on the other hand, made quick cameo appearances to help their team surpass the 100-run threshold.
Chopra concluded that there weren’t any demons on the field and attributed it to the visitors’ ordinary batting efforts. The former Indian opener admitted that when New Zealand was three down with only nine runs scored at the beginning of their innings, it seemed like a football score. “The start was extremely ordinary. Finn Allen was dismissed off the fifth ball of the first over and then they became 9-3. We were saying – Is it a cricket match or a football score? The difference was that whoever has nine against their name is winning there, here the scale was tilted towards those who had three against their name,” he added.
