Daryl Mitchell has achieved a historic record during the third ODI between India and New Zealand in Indore. The star batter slammed his third fifty-plus score in the ongoing series.
New Zealand star Daryl Mitchell etched his name into the history books as he achieved a massive record in the third ODI against India on Sunday, January 18. With the series on the line at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore, Mitchell stood tall and slammed another fifty-plus score in the third ODI.ย
The New Zealand star has slammed six fifty-plus scores in his last seven ODI matches, and this was his fourth consecutive one. He has been in insane form in the ongoing series against the Men in Blue and was the cornerstone in helping New Zealand win the second ODI in Rajkot, which was their maiden win in the format after eight years.ย
Mitchell continued from where he left off as he hit another fifty-plus score in the series decider and etched his name into the history books. Mitchell has become the first batter ever to hit five consecutive fifty-plus scores against India in India, with this one being fifth such score.
Talking about these last five innings, Mitchell had scored 131* and 84 in the first two ODIs before his fifty in the third ODI. The right-handed batter had hit 134 in the ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal against India at Wankhede and had hit 130 in the league stage match of the tournament earlier in Dharamsala.
Coming back to the match, India won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first. “We’re gonna bowl first. (On playing the series decider) That’s what we spoke about, great challenge for us, New Zealand putting us under a bit of pressure, these are the moments that all the players wait for,” India skipper Shubman Gill said at the toss.
“(On this being a high-scoring ground) That is one of the factors why we decided to bowl first. I don’t think there’ll be much dew here, but it looks like a pretty good surface and always good to have a score on the board and then try to chase it down. (Areas to improve) In the middle overs, we need to vary our lengths a little bit more, and if we don’t take wickets in the middle overs, it becomes very difficult to stop any target. So that will be one of the areas where we would be looking to improve. We’ve got one change, Arshdeep comes back in place of Prasidh,” he added.
“We would have bowled first, but I think it looks like a good surface, and I guess we’re going to quickly shift to the mindset of batting first. That’s right, it’s a big exciting opportunity for us to win a series over here in one-day format. I think they’ve shown good temperament. They’re getting used to international cricket and have made a good fist of it so far (on the new faces). With the series on the line, you want to be able to do that stuff under pressure. So I’m looking forward to seeing how they go again tonight. No changes from the last game,” New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell said.