India survives Bracewell scare

Michael Bracewell struck a stunning century as he gave India a mighty scare in Hyderabad by scoring 140 nearly dragging New Zealand to an unlikely win in the series opener. From the depths of 131/6, Bracewell joined hands with Mitchell Santner (57) to revive the chase but fell in the final over as New Zealand were bowled out for 337. India won by 12 runs. Gill’s place in India’s ODI side was questioned because the batter who replaced him when he was resting scored a double-hundred, and he responded one of his own after making 70, 21 and 116 in his first three innings since his return. This wasn’t the easiest of tracks for batting: the next-best score was Rohit Sharma’s 34, and India’s 349 for 8 was the lowest score in any ODI innings to feature a double-century. Rohit Sharma, India captain, said, To be honest, the way he (Bracewell) was batting and the way it came on to the bat nicely, it was clean ball-striking. We knew that if we bowled well, we would be okay unless we really slipped up with the ball. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. I did say at the toss that I’d like to see us challenge ourselves, not quite the situation I expected but that’s how it is. He (Gill) is going really well. The form he was in, we wanted to make use of it and that’s why we backed him in the SL series. Free-flowing batter and it’s quite exciting to watch. Siraj has been brilliant, not just in this game but in the red-ball, T20 format and now ODIs. Really good to see what he does with the ball. Executing what he wants to do and he is very clear about his plans. Which is how it should be. Gill said, ‘I was waiting eagerly to go out and do what I want to do. With wickets falling, at times I wanted to unleash and I’m glad I could do it at the end. Sometimes when the bowler is on top, you need to make them feel pressure. Need to avoid dot balls, show some intent and hit hard into the gaps. Which is what I was doing. Wasn’t really thinking o