HAMILTON: The elegant Shubman Gill and the marauding Suryakumar Yadav briefly entertained a sizeable Sunday crowd before inclement weather yet again played spoilsport and forced abandonment of the second ODI between India and New Zealand, here Sunday.
India were 89 for 1 in 12.5 overs when rain stopped play.
The match was reduced to 29-overs-a-side as the first interruption caused a four-hour break.
India were 22 for no loss in the fifth over at that time.
After resumption, the visitors lost their skipper Shikhar Dhawan (3 off 10 balls) trying to up the ante.
But Gill (45 batting) and Surya (34 batting) added 66 effortless runs in under eight overs before heavens opened up once again.
Gill had four boundaries and a pulled six while Surya hit three different sixes -- slog sweep over mid-wicket, reverse sweep behind square and a pull-shot to carry his T20I form into the longer format.
After a crushing defeat in the first ODI in Auckland, Shikhar Dhawan-led India will look to level the series in the second match against Kane Williamson's New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton.
In the opening ODI at Auckland, Tom Latham played an unbeaten knock of 145, while captain Kane Williamson also scored a stunning 94 not out. The Kiwis clinched the first of the three-match ODI comfortably with seven wickets to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
New Zealand have participated in the second-fewest number of ODIs (16) of any side competing in the current World Cup Super League. But with just one more victory, they can displace India atop the standings. The odds favour them to do it given that they have won all 13 of their ODI victories at home.
Meanwhile, India is still looking for a sixth bowling option. Due to the absence of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel from their squad for this series, they also lack experience in the lower middle order. None of the top six batters who competed in Auckland bowled.
Speaking at the time of the toss, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, "We are gonna have a bowl. The surface has been under covers a little, so hopefully, our seamers can extract whatever little help they can get. We are playing the extra slow option today in Michael Bracewell in place of Adam Milne. He (Southee) is racking up the numbers in all formats and breaking a few records along the way, great achievement and a very special player for us."
Speaking at the time of the toss, India skipper Shikhar Dhawan said, "We would have bowled first as there's moisture in the wicket. Even in the last game the wicket was seaming for the first 10-15 overs, we got to keep the positive intent and go for the runs. We got 2 changes. Instead of Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar comes in and Deepak Hooda comes in place of Sanju Samson. We only need 10 percent of improvement and it makes a huge impact and especially in the death bowling, we got to be a bit more smarter."
International teams usually tour the New Zealand between December and March and poor scheduling where the vagaries of weather wasn't factored in, has spoilt the limited overs series.
The ongoing series is being held during receding monsoon and there won't be any takeaways from the series where no player got enough opportunity to get into the groove.
There isn't a big sample size of performance to evaluate but Surya certainly has been a shining star and Gill with his phenomenal talent is making a serious case for himself for a permanent place in the ODI playing eleven.
New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson(c), Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson.
India (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Deepak Chahar, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal.
(With PTI and ANI inputs)