Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik scored 68 and 64* runs respectively to help India chase down a tricky target of 231 runs set by New Zealand in Pune.


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Earlier in the match, Indian bowlers produced a disciplined performance to restrict the Kiwis to a seemingly below-par total.


The series decider will be played on Sunday in Kanpur.


SCORECARD || MATCH REPORT


INDIA INNINGS; TARGET 231


9:00 p.m. Dinesh Karthik hits a sublime cover drive off the last ball of 46th over, bowled by Tim Southee. And India register a six-wicket win in their 100th ODI meeting with the Kiwis. It's India's 50th win.


8:53 p.m. MS Dhoni hits two successive fours off the second and third balls of the 44th over. Class act from the legend. Nine runs from Trent Boult's last over. His figures: 10-0-54-0. India need another 7 runs with 6 wickets from 36 balls.


8:37 p.m. Moments after Dinesh Karthik hits his ninth ODI fifty, he loses a partner in Hardik Pandya. WICKET: Pandya c Milne b Santner 30(31); India IND 204/4 (40.1). MS Dhoni is the new man.


8:28 p.m. Dinesh Karthik-Hardik Pandya is blossoming into a match-winning one. Pandya hits Southee for back-to-back fours, then steals a double as the 38th over yields 13 runs. India are 191/3. 


8:12 p.m. India still need another 65 runs with seven wickets from 16 overs. Dinesh Karthik drops anchor, and is on 36 off 55 balls. Newly arrived Hardik Pandya is on 13 off 17 balls.


7:47 p.m. Dhawan departs after scoring a patient 84-ball 68. Soft dismissal. He just lofted the ball to Ross Taylor at short cover. Adam Milne celebrates. India are 145/3 (29.2). Hardik Pandya is the new man for India.


7:38 p.m. Dhawan hits Southee for a six off the fourth ball of 26th over. Clean hit, over wide long-on. India need another 94 runs from 23 overs.


7:27 p.m. India need another 108 runs from 26 overs. Meanwhile, Dhawan just brought up his 22nd ODi fifty. He and Karthik posted 44 runs for third wicket. 


7:12 p.m. Shikhar Dhawan survives a howler of a decision for caught behind. He rightly takes the review. Ball misses the bat completely. It happens off the first ball of 20.1 overs. Dhawan on 
46 off 54 balls, India 100/2


7:02 p.m. India need another 139 runs with 8 wickets from 32 overs. Shikhar Dhawan is batting at 42 (46).


6:50 p.m. India are 84/2 at the end of 15th over. Shikkar Dhawan is going strong at 38 off 36.


6:40 p.m. Virat Kohli walks. Caught behind. Wicket to Colin de Grandhomme. WICKET: Kohli c Latham b de Grandhomme 29(29); India IND 79/2 (13.5). Dinesh Karthik joins Shikhar Dhawan in the centre. India need another 152 runs with 8 wickets from 36.1 overs.


6:30 p.m. One good over for the Kiwis as Adam concedes only two runs in the 11th over. India are 66-1.


6:17 p.m. Virat Kohli joins the leather hunt. He is now 18 off 13 balls with the help of two fours and a six. With Dhawan, he has put 33 runs for the second wicket. India are 55/1 after the end of eighth over.


6:08 p.m. Shikhar Dhawan takes on Kiwi new-ball bowlers, playing improvised shots, exploring means to score quick runs. He is on 19 off 14 balls as India post 37 runs for loss of one wicket after the end of sixth over.


6:00 p.m. India lose opener Rohit Sharma in the fifth over. Rohit played a flick shot, but failed to keep the ball down. WICKET: Rohit c Munro b Southee 7(19) ; IND 22/1 (4.3 Overs). New man is chase master Virat Kohli.


5:53 p.m. India are 12/0 after three overs' play in Pune. Both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma hit a four each against Trent Boult and Tim Southee respectively.


5:47 p.m. Tim Southee starts with a maiden over, with Rohit Sharma taking his time warming up.


4:58 p.m. NZ END WITH 230/9 IN 50 OVERS. Nine runs off the last over bowled by Bhuvneshwar, who returned best figures among Indian bowlers with 3/45. He got good support from fellow pacer Bumrah (2/38), Chahal (2/36). Pandya and Patel took a wicket each. For the Kiwis, Henry Nicholls was the top-scorer with 42, while Grandhomme played a good hand of 41 lower down the order.  


4:53 p.m. Bumrah gets Santner (29) to leave the Kiwis with just a wicket to play with in the last over. 221/9


:47 p.m. Santner (29*) and Southee (10*) are collecting some useful runs, even if the end total may not be anywhere near enough. Both Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah have bowled nine overs each and will finish off bowling the last two overs left. NZ 211/8 in 48 overs.


4:36 p.m. Five overs left for NZ to negotiate and the visitors have just two wickes in hand with Santner (18) and Southee (3) on the crease. Can they get to 225? NZ 192/8


4:28 p.m. FUTILE REVIEW & WICKET NO. 8. Chahal is on a hat-trick after dismissing Grandhomme (41) and now Adam Milne (0) LBW off successive deliveries. But Southee safely negotiates with a straight drive for single. NZ 188/8


4:26 p.m. THAT'S A BIG BLOW! Grandhomme (41) was well in to carry the Kiwis to a respectable total. But perishes against Chahal, caught at short third-man by Burah. NZ 188/7 in 44th over.


4:22 p.m. Quite clearly Grandhomme is the real hope for NZ now to get past 250, but Santner has begun with a bang, hitting Axar Patel for a six and a four in his final over. Axar's spell reads 1/54


4:03 p.m. WICKET! Bhuvneshwar Kumar removes Henry Nicholls (42) with a beauty of a delivery. New Zealand are 165/6 after the end of 38th over.


3:46 p.m. Kohli continues to use his two pacers in tandem as new batsman Grandhomme (17* off 19) starts aggressively. Nicholls is on 33 and NZ 138/5 in 34 overs.


3:32 p.m. BIG WICKET! Latham's (38) goes down to sweep Axar but misses the line of the ball completed to expose his stumps around the front leg. The parntership was looking good for more but ended after adding 60. NZ 118/5 in 29 overs.


3:30 p.m. Chahal (0/13) finishes his third over. Axar has bowled five (0/23) so far. None of the two Kiwi batsmen is taking any chances, probably waiting for another five overs. They are well set though.


3:15 p.m. END OF 25 OVERS.  The visitors wear a little more settled look at 97/4, edging towards their 100. But Latham (31*) and Nicholls (16*) will need to do this repair job for at least another 10 overs before the Kiwis can think of changing gears. 


3 p.m. The visitors' progress has been forced to be just a crawl, and understandably so when you have lost four wickets for almost nothing. The Black Caps are now 77/4 in 21 overs, with Latham on 21 and Nicholls on 7.


2:45 p.m. SOFT DISMISSAL! Taylor (21) tried to pull a loopy bouncer from Pandya, mistimed his shot and got a bottom edge inside that was safely pouched by Dhoni moving to his left. NZ 58/4 in 16 overs


2:35 p.m. Kedar Jadhav introduced early by Kohli. A bit of surprise move for the Kiwis who must have been expected Pandya to come on after Bhuvi-Bumrah did so well in the front 10. NZ 46/3 in 13 overs. 


2:22 p.m. END OF POWERPLAY. It's India all the way so far on a pitch that was expected to be a belter. NZ are 35/3 in 10 overs and currently in rebuilding mode with Ross Taylor and Tom Latham on the pitch. Remember, they stitched 200 runs together to win the first ODI for the Kiwis.


2:10 p.m. KNUCKLEBALL, AND WICKET! Bhuvneshwar claim his second victim of the match in the form of Colin Munro (10). A straightish delivery that moved in just enough to catch the inside-edge onto the pads and then the stumps. NZ 27/3 in 7 overs. 


2 p.m. NZ TWO DOWN! Bumrah removes Kiwi skipper Williamson LBW for 3 (14).  Review taken but all parameters pointed towards sticking with the original decision of  OUT! NZ 25/2 after 5 overs. Munro is now joined by last-match hero Ross Taylor.


1:48 pm. WICKET! Bhuvneshwar's impeccable line and length snares Guptill (11), who edges it straight to Dhoni, after Munro hit Bhuvi for a six earlier in the over. Skipper Kane Williamson is the new man in. NZ 21/1 after 3 overs.


1:40 p.m. Brisk start by NZ openers, especially Guptill who hit Bumrah for two successive boundaries behind point. Ball coming onto the bat nicely. It seems the pitch will keep its promise of being a belter. NZ 13/0 after 2 overs.


PLAYING XIs


INDIA: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwart Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal


NEW ZEALAND: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (c), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, C de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Trent Boult


TOSS & TEAM UPDATE:  Unchanged New Zealand decide to bat first. India bring in Axar Patel for Kuldeep Yadav.



12: 55 p.m. We are just five minutes away from the toss, but the start to this game hasn't been auspicious. The stadium's pitch curator Pandurang Salgaonkar was caught in a sting operation trying to seel pitch information to reporters in the disguise of bookies. BCCI sprung into action and the curator was suspended


And following clearance from the ICC observer, the pitch was okayed to keep the game on schedule.


12:50 p.m. It's not a situation that Indian cricket fans are used to. A visiting team is leading 1-0 and just a win away from beating India at home. Virat Kohli & Co certainly have a task at hand today to save the series and their reputation of almost unbeatable at home.