The IND vs NZ 2nd ODI had blueprints of a game in the past which would not bode well with the Indian fans.
The first innings of the second ODI between IND vs NZ ended on a fantastic note for the Men in Blue, with KL Rahul scripting off his 8th ODI century in style. However, the first four dismissals of the game had a lot of similarities to the way the same players were dismissed in the Final of the World Cup in 2023.
The pitch in Rajkot slowed down after the initial 20 overs, and batting became more challenging. The Kiwis exerted some pressure on the hosts as they lost important wickets in the form of Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli. However, it was the game awareness of KL Rahul which took India to an above-par total of 284/7.
Here are four eerie similarities between the IND vs NZ 2nd ODI, and the Final of the ODI World Cup in 2023:
On both occasions, the Men in Blue lost the toss and were put in to bat by their counterparts. Having said that, both Rohit Sharma (in the World Cup Final) and Shubman Gill (in the IND vs NZ 2nd ODI) mentioned at the toss that they wanted to bat first.
Runs on the board is always a nice thing to have in a game as big as the World Cup Final, in order to put pressure on the opposition. On the other hand, Shubman Gill stressed on the fact that the wicket in Rajkot tends to slow down in the second innings, which is why they were happy to bat first.
More than just the toss, the innings had a lot of similarities – the highlight of which was the way three Indian batters were dismissed. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill were both dismissed in a similar fashion to the World Cup 2023 Final.
While former skipper Rohit Sharma tried to break the shackles which led to a catch with the fielder running in from the deep point boundary, Virat Kohli chopped one onto his stumps while tryin to run the ball down to third man.
To add to that, Indian skipper Shubman Gill got out playing a shot which he loves. But unfortunately, it landed straight into the hands of the mid-wicket fielder (mid-on in the World Cup 2023F Final).
The Indian No.5 scoring more than fifty runs is another similarity between the two contests, but the 2nd IND vs NZ ODI resulted in a magnificent century. KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 112 off 92 deliveries with 11 boundaries and a solitary maximum.
The application and game awareness which KL Rahul showed in the IND vs NZ 2nd ODI was very pleasing to watch. However, the Indian fans would have expected a similar innings from the No.5 batter on the day of the World Cup Final in 2023.
There was an eerie similarity in the way the pitches behaved at both the venues. The wicket in Ahmedabad was expected to be a batting track, but slowed down later – something on the same lines of what happened in Rajkot.
However, the only difference in Rajkot was that the Indians were very well aware of what to expect from the wicket, which was not the case in the Final of the World Cup in 2023.
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Both the IND vs NZ 2nd ODI and the Final of the World Cup in 2023 were played in the state of Gujarat – with the bilateral game being played in Rajkot and the Final of the mega-event in Ahmedabad.
That being said, the fixtures had quite different reactions after the first innings. The momentum was with the Australians at the end of the first innings in 2023, and it was with the Blues due to KL Rahul’s century in the IND vs NZ 2nd ODI.
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