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'A complete team effort' - Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has called India's eight-wicket win over New Zealand in the second ODI in Jaipur "a complete team effort"

Gautam Gambhir made his maiden century as captain in the second ODI against New Zealand  •  Associated Press

Gautam Gambhir made his maiden century as captain in the second ODI against New Zealand  •  Associated Press

Gautam Gambhir has called India's eight-wicket win over New Zealand in the second ODI in Jaipur "a complete team effort", and said they would aim to win the series in the next game in Baroda on Saturday. Gambhir made an unbeaten 130 from 116 balls standing in for regular captain MS Dhoni, to help India overhaul their target with seven overs to spare.
He was full of praise for his bowlers, especially Sreesanth, who took 4 for 47, for the way they bowled on what was a fairly flat track at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium. "I always felt the wicket was going to improve. I was looking to time the ball and it worked. They batted well and 259 was a decent total, but our bowlers did a good job to contain them.
"Sreesanth has got his Test rhythm in ODI cricket as well, and he's had two really good games this series."
Ashish Nehra, on the other hand, did not have a good game, going wicketless and conceding 45 runs from his 9 overs. "Every bowler has an off day and Ashish is an experienced campaigner, and is bowling in good rhythm," Gambhir said. "One can always have a bad day."
Gambhir was also pleased with his own form, saying scoring a hundred as captain was special, but winning the game was even more special. "I was enjoying there in the middle and the ball was coming onto the bat nicely, it was not spinning." Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, called Gambhir's century "one of the best one-day innings I have seen."
While Vettori was happy with the way his batsmen played, he criticised his team's poor bowling performance. "We should have bowled better, we gave width to Gambhir all day and he made us pay for that. If you do that on slowish wickets, it's difficult to control the run-rate."
The loss was New Zealand's seventh in a row in one-dayers, but Vettori shrugged it off, saying, "We can't get caught up in history."