Williamson's innings helps New Zealand beat India

New Zealand batsman, Kane Williamson, starred in his side's 15-run win over India in the second ODI which was played in Hamilton on Wednesday.

Williamson, who came to the crease in the sixth over, combined with opener Martin Guptill and helped his team recover from a sluggish start. The pair added 89 for the third wicket in 15.3 overs.

Williamson mixed caution with aggression and choose his shots carefully. The right-hander took seven overs to hit his first boundary, but once he switched gears, he was difficult to contain.

He smashed Ravindra Jadeja for consecutive boundaries in the 14th over and then launched Virat Kohli for another in the 15th. Guptill's departure in the 21st over didn't prove a dampener and Williamson joined forces with Ross Taylor to keep India's attack at bay. The pair added 60 for the third wicket and their partnership set it up for the big hitters at the end. After Williamson's dismissal in the 35th over, Corey Anderson and Taylor went berserk in a 74-run partnership in 4.4 overs. The brutal hitting was in direct contrast to the delightful batting of Williamson, who played the most difficult shot to play on a slow pitch, the back-foot drive on the up, with ease.

Following a rain interruption, India were set a revised target of 297. Except for a fluent innings from Virat Kohli, India's batsmen failed to leave an impact in Hamilton. The famed batting line-up crumbled to 277, 15 runs short of the target. The loss pushed India off the No. 1 rankings in ODIs.

"Yeah it was a good performance. It was outstanding to get the total we did, and that too in a reduced game," Brendon McCullum said. "We needed all those runs against India's packed batting. Prior to the weather I thought the batting was outstanding with Ross and Kane. Then Corey came back in today and showed just how much he has learned at this level to give us that momentum going into the second innings.

"The team has really stepped up and performed well over these last two games. At the end of the day, under pressure, the guys did really well."