Diwali has traditionally brightened the streets of India, and the Indian Cricket Team has always made sure that the entire nation celebrates the “festival of lights” with the greatest of emotions after witnessing their beloved team play. There has always been a strong link between Diwali and Indian cricket. This is because amazing victories and records have a way of lifting the spirits of the cricketing community, which makes it easier for them to enjoy the festival.
In honour of the upcoming festival of lights, Diwali, let’s reflect on some unforgettable times when India’s national team brought joy to the hearts of one million people around the world with their incredible performances.
India Beat New Zealand in the 5th ODI Match in Visakhapatnam
In 2016, India hosted a One-Day International (ODI) series against New Zealand that consisted of five matches. Following the conclusion of the fourth game, the score in the series was 2-2. Visakhapatnam was the site of the most recent game.
India triumphed in the coin toss and made the decision to bat first. Rohit Sharma scored 70 runs for India, while Kohli provided 65 runs. Dhoni, who was batting fourth, scored 41 runs off 59 balls. In the end, the Indian total was brought up to a respectable 269 thanks to some lusty strokes from Kedar Jadhav (39) and Axar Patel (24).
In their response, the Kiwis were in a comfortable position at 63 for 2 at one point. After that, Dhoni made the decision to bring in the leg spinner Amit Mishra to the attack during the 12th over of the innings.
In his third over of the match, Mishra eliminated Ross Taylor and B.L. Waiting. In his fifth over, Mishra was able to take two more wickets than Jimmy Neesham and Tim Southee combined in their fifth over. When Sodhi was run out without scoring, it was Mishra’s fifth success of the innings. In only six overs of bowling, Mishra took five wickets, making him the most successful bowler of the match.
It was only Amit Mishra’s second five-wicket haul in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). The game was won by India by an overwhelming margin of 190 runs. Amit Mishra was selected as the Most Valuable Player for both the game and the series. The final score was India winning 3-2. That was the last time that a team from outside India won two matches in a One-Day International series that was being played in India.
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So, that was yet another enjoyable game of cricket! Once again, we saw that you do not need to have flat pitches to have entertaining games; all you need to do is leave something for the bowlers to contend with, and you have competition.
