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India 232 for 4 (Dhawan 69, Karthik 64*) beat New Zealand 230 for 9 (Nicholls 42, B Kumar 3-45, Chahal 2-36, Bumrah 2-38) by six wickets
Pune: Dinesh Karthik slammed his ninth fifty and Shikhar Dhawan scored his 22nd fifty as India beat New Zealand by six wickets at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wedensday to level the series 1-1.
With this win, the final ODI in Kanpur becomes the series decider on Sunday.
Shikhar Dhawan brought up his 22nd ODI fifty in fine style. It was a classic knock from Dhawan, who started in a typical flamboyant manner before holding back his shots once his skipper departed with 79 on the scoreboard.
New Zealand had started the proceedings with a maiden over from Tim Southee; with Rohit Sharma seeing it off without taking unnecessary risks.
However, Dhawan had no such plans. The first ball was slapped over the slip cordon for a boundary while two overs later, another flew to the square leg boundary off a simple flick.
The singles and twos were always there but both Kohli and Dhawan looked to go with the intention to finish things off as soon as possible. Kohli, also in fine nick, had a few glorious on-drives and a towering six over square-leg to add on to the trouble.
When Sharma departed, Dhawan was batting on 15 off eight deliveries and he continued the carnage with his captain, including a six that looked right off a cricket manual. He didn’t lean back for the pull, but slapped it off his front foot as a distraught Tim Southee walked back to his run-up.
But he took his foot off the pedal once Kohli was dismissed, scoring 13 off 28 deliveries to reach his half-century. He was let off once though, after the umpire had adjudged him caught behind off the bowling of Colin Munro only for the southpaw to review it and overturn the decision.
Dhawan ultimately got out for 68 in the off 84 balls. He got dismissed by Adam Milne.
Earlier, fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed three wickets as India restricted New Zealand to 230-9.
International Cricket Council officials gave the match the last-minute go-ahead after India's ruling body sacked a groundsman, following an undercover sting by journalists in which he claimed to have doctored the pitch before the game.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) dismissed Pandurang Salgaoncar, the pitch manager at the Pune ground, after he described to India Today TV reporters, who were posing as bookies, how he had tampered with the pitch.
Another curator was swiftly drafted in before match referee Chris Broad inspected the pitch and cleared the game to start, with New Zealand captain Kane Williamson winning the toss and choosing to bat first.
India, quickly put New Zealand on the back foot, skittling through the visitors' top order to leave them reeling on 27-3 after seven overs.
Martin Guptill was the first to go, for just 11, when wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni caught him off Kumar.
Williamson could only manage three before being out lbw by paceman Jasprit Bumrah.
Kumar claimed his second wicket not long afterwards when a teasing slow delivery had Colin Munro bowled for 10.
Ross Taylor made 21 before Tom Latham (38), top scorer Henry Nicholls (42) and Colin de Grandhomme (41) stopped the rot.
Kumar clean-bowled Nicholls for his third wicket while Bumrah celebrated his second when Indian captain Virat Kohli caught Mitchell Santner near the boundary on 29.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal chipped in with two wickets of his own, dismissing de Grandhomme and Adam Milne (0) in successive balls.
