Tom Latham with Ross Taylor
It wasn't a clinical show as such by the New Zealanders as the Indians had almost managed to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat in the second ODI of the three-match series at Eden Park on Saturday, but Kiwi stand-in skipper Tom Latham was impressed with his boys and called it a great victory as his bowlers held their nerves to register a 22-run win.
"It's a great victory. The last game, batters won the game and today the bowlers did the job for us," he said.
The game kept oscillating towards the end as the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja and Navdeep Saini put on determined displays with the bat for India and Latham said that the wicket at Eden Park is always funny and picking wickets early was crucial.
"It's always a funny wicket, if you pick up early scalps, you are always in the game. That partnership for us towards the back-end was a vital one," he pointed.
The game could have gone either ways in the last five overs and the tension was visible on Latham's face every time the camera panned on him and the captain made no bones about it and said that he wasn't convinced that his side was home till they picked the last Indian wicket. He also praised Kyle Jamieson for holding his nerve towards the end in what was a thriller.
"I was never satisfied till the last wicket was taken. It was about juggling the bowlers around. They kept coming back and Kyle on debut was fantastic today," he smiled.
Asked about avenging the 0-5 loss in the T20Is, Latham said: "It will be great to win 3-0, fingers crossed!"
