Auckland: Ravindra Jadeja’s heroics with the bat (66 off 45 balls) saved India the blues as the Men-In-Blue went on to draw the third ODI match against New Zealand that ended in a nail-biting tie to India afloat in the five-match series here on Saturday.
Chasing a daunting target of 315, India came back from a precarious situation to tie the game. R Ashwin's 65 and Jadeja's unbeaten 66 helped save themselves the blushes of another overseas ODI series defeat.
In the thrilling encounter, India needed 18 off Corey Anderson's last over for a victory but Jadeja and last man Varun Aaron could get 17 to tie the game on a good batting track at the Eden Park. The visitors needed just two runs off the last ball but Jadeja could manage just a single. Now India have the chance to draw the five-match series by winning the remaining two matches. With this win, India also remained as the No 1 team in ODI rankings.
Earlier, put into bat, New Zealand rode on a superb century from Guptill, who scored his fifth ODI century, and went on to score 314. Kane Williamson (65) and Luke Ronchi (38) were the other notable contributors.
Chasing, India too got off to a good start before Shekhar Dhawan (28) and Rohit Sharma (39) squandered the start. The fall of Virat Kohli (6) and Ajinkya Rahane (3) gave a huge jolt to India, who slumped to 79 for four from 64 for no loss.
Skipper Dhoni (50) and Suresh Raina (31) did try to stich the innings and added 67-run for the fifth wicket to keep India in the hunt. Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja than put on 85 runs for the seventh wicket to raise hopes of a stunning victory.
