IND vs NZ 2nd ODI: Virat all set for last Windy Welly Waltz

Having welcomed the first rays of warmth at the start of the southern hemisphere summer on Thursday lsquoWindy Wellyrsquo lapsed back into form on Friday a day before Indiarsquos second ODI against New Zealand Dark and depressingly gloomy for the most part the weather forced the cancellation of Indiarsquos practice session at Basin Reserve the designated Test venue though Saturdayrsquos game will be played at the multipurpose Hnry Stadium some 32 kilometres awayIndiarsquos first win in five ODIs on New Zealand soil was achieved with little fuss in Auckland on Wednesday night Set up by the intelligence and incisiveness of a pace group with limited exposure to the global 50over stage Indiarsquos fivewicket victory in a match interrupted by rain was formalised by a whirlwind 74 from Virat Kohli who gifted himself a 38th birthday present a day earlyItrsquos almost a given that Saturday will mark Kohlirsquos final appearance in India colours in Wellington He has a reasonable record in the New Zealand capital he made a sparkling 82 admittedly in a losing cause in his only ODI at the Hnry in 2014 and slammed an unbeaten 105 in the second innings of the second Test at the Basin on that same tour though that hundred will perennially remain a footnoteWith India 246 runs ahead on the first innings and New Zealand on the ropes at 945 in the second Kohli was specifically stationed at silly midon to exploit a perceived weakness in skipper Brendon McCullumrsquos armour Mohammed Shami did elicit the error but Kohli almost lazily stuck out his left hand and failed to latch on to the catch McCullum was on nine at the time and went on to create history by becoming New Zealandrsquos first Test triple centurion His sixthwicket stand of 352 with BJ Watling secured the Kiwis an honourable draw in Zaheer Khanrsquos final Test and gave them a 10 series victoryKohli will not grace Basin Reserve again having retired from Test cricket 18 months back And irrespective of whether he remembers the McCullum drop or not he will be determined to entertain the Wellingtonians with one final flourish weather permitting As will Rohit Sharma whose recent rich vein of ODI form was cut short by a sixball zeroMohammed Siraj has linked up with his colleagues after playing for India lsquoArsquo in Christchurch earlier in the week New Zealand meanwhile were forced to call up Nick Kelly once fellow lefthand batter Devon Conway was ruled out of the series with concussion82No of runs scored by Virat Kohli in the only ODI he has played at Wellingtonrsquos Hnry Stadium29No of runs Virat Kohli needs to become the first batsman to score 2000 ODI runs vs New ZealandFourNo of ODIs India have played against NZ at Wellingtonrsquos Hnry Stadium the visitors have won two and lost one while one match was washed out