Catches win matches. Shelling two in consecutive deliveries usually signs a death warrant.
New Zealand opener Will Young hammered that ancient cricketing truth directly into India's bowling attack on Friday, carving out an explosive 125 off 88 balls to power the hosts to a massive 333 in the fourth ODI at Bay Oval. It was his fifth one-day century, his highest score in the format, and his first against India—crafted entirely on borrowed time.
Young was batting on just five when disaster struck India's slip cordon in the second over. Speedster Auqib Nabi generated sharp away shape, clipping Young's outside edge. Rohit Sharma lunged low at first slip and spilled the chance. Before the bowler could reset his frustration, Nabi drew another faint edge on the very next delivery. Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan threw out his gloves, fumbled, and put it down. Two balls. Two reprieves.
India paid for every run thereafter.
Fortune favoured Young, but the sheer absurdity of surviving back-to-back drops inside six seconds triggered chuckles rather than nerves. As the dust settled in the second over, Virat Kohli walked over from cover to check in on the opener's remarkable escape.
The exchange between the two batters cut straight through the tension.
Well, the first one, obviously a little bit disappointed, but at the same time relieved. The second one, you just got to laugh it off. Virat came up to me and I said, 'Have you ever been dropped twice in an over?' He laughs and said no, so just brush it off and next ball.
Before Friday's masterclass, Young had endured a wretched run across the opening leg of the bilateral series. He managed nine scratchy runs in the opener and fell for six in the second fixture, before rain washed out the third ODI without a result. Slicing through that slump required luck—and an immediate technical reset.
Rather than retreating into a defensive shell after surviving Nabi's probing spell, Young altered his trigger movements. He abandoned his stationary stance, advancing down the track to meet the ball before it could deviate off the seam.
"Yeah, I did actually notice that I was a little bit stuck on the crease after that, those two drops," Young admitted. "I decided to walk at them and get my weight through the ball a bit more, and that seemed to work in my favour."
Brisk partnerships anchored the innings. Young established a commanding opening platform alongside Tim Seifert, blunt-force countering the new-ball swing. When Finn arrived at the crease, the tempo surged again, with the pair rotating strike aggressively and punishing boundary balls.
| Will Young 4th ODI Metric Breakdown | Statistical Detail |
|---|---|
| Runs Scored / Deliveries Faced | 125 runs off 88 balls |
| Career Milestone | 5th ODI Century |
| Opponent Milestone | 1st ODI Ton vs India |
| Format High | Highest Individual ODI Career Score |
| Reprieves Given | Dropped twice in over 2 (Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan) |
| Score at Reprieve | 5 runs |
"A little bit of relief, firstly, but no, it's been amazing to spend some time in the middle," Young reflected. "Obviously a little bit of fortune early in my innings, but I managed to stick at it and put a decent score together with a few partnerships in the middle. Having Seifert at the other end in the opening partnership was brilliant. He played really well, and I think it was just a story of small partnerships throughout the innings, which got us to that 333."
New Zealand lost wickets in clusters during the death overs, slowing their march toward an even bigger total. Yet a board showing 333 leaves the visiting bowlers holding the upper hand at Mount Maunganui.
"I think at a certain stage in the innings we would have liked a little bit more, but we did keep losing wickets. So to scrap through to 333 I think is a decent score," Young said. "Stats say that 314 is the average first innings winning score. So hopefully that's enough. Early wickets, feel like demons, hopefully it is."
New Zealand's seamers now take the ball under the lights, hunting for the early breakthrough to push India off course in their pursuit of 334.
| Bowler | Auqib Nabi |