India appeared shorn of its aura in the absence of talismanic skipper Virat Kohli as pacer Trent Boult’s fiery five-wicket haul guided New Zealand to a stunning eight-wicket win in the fourth One-Day International here on Thursday.
With run-machine Kohli rested after the side claimed an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, India’s much-vaunted batting was dismissed for its seventh-lowest ODI total — 92 in 30.5 overs here after Boult dished out a deadly opening spell.
It was also the lowest total posted by any side at this venue, the previous lowest of 122 is also against India’s name.
Wreaking havoc
Boult wreaked havoc with the new ball and in Colin de Grandhomme’s (three for 26) company utilised the swinging conditions at the Seddon Park perfectly.
“Never expected this to happen. We’ve got ourselves to blame for this,” said India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma.
In the absence of Kohli and an injured Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian batting unit found the going tough against the Kiwi bowling attack.
India’s lowest ODI total is 54 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 2000. It was also India’s second lowest against New Zealand, having somehow managed to surpass the 88 scored at Dambulla.
“I don’t think we expected this much. But the guys bowled well. It was nice to bowl them out for 90 odd. It was just one of those days. It was an outstanding performance today,” New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said.
Bowling his 10 overs at a stretch, Boult troubled the Indian batsmen with both ways movement to return with impressive figures of five for 21, while Grandhomme gave him perfect support from the other end after New Zealand elected to bowl.
“Nice to see the ball moving around, made the most of it,” said Boult, who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match.
While chasing, even though New Zealand lost Martin Guptill (14) and skipper Kane Williamson (11) early to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the host completed the formalities in 14.4 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Miserable scorecard
Earlier, the pitch didn’t seem unplayable but the Indian batsmen failed to apply themselves against Boult and Grandhomme’s swing.
Only four Indian batsnmen — Shikhar Dhawan (13), Hardik Pandya (16), Kuldeep Yadav (15) and Yuzvendra Chahal (18 not out) — posted double digits.
Dhawan was caught plumb in front by Boult in the sixth over. Rohit, who is leading India in the last two matches of the series, didn’t have a happy 200th ODI, and was caught and bowled by Boult.
Grandhomme then joined the party, dismissing Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik for ducks in a span of four balls in the 11th over. A lot was expected from debutant Shubman Gill (9) but pressure got the better of him as he got out, like Rohit, caught and bowled by Boult.
Reeling at 33 for five, India desperately needed the experience of Kohli or Dhoni to bail the team out, and, in the duo’s absence, the onus was on Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to do the repair job.
No repairman
But it was not to be as wickets kept tumbling with Boult ripping apart India’s line-up, dismissing both Jadhav and Pandya in quick succession.
From 55 for eight, Chahal and Kuldeep shared 25 runs to take India close to the 100-run mark before being shot out in 30.5 overs.
The last match of the series is on Sunday in Wellington.
Scoreboard
India: Rohit c & b Boult 7 (23b) , Shikhar Dhawan lbw b Boult 13 (20b, 1x4, 1x6) , Shubman Gill c & b Boult 9 (21b, 1x4) , Ambati Rayudu c Guptill b de Grandhomme 0 (4b) , Dinesh Karthik c Latham b de Grandhomme 0 (3b) , Kedar Jadhav lbw b Boult 1 (7b) , Hardik Pandya c Latham b Boult 16 (20b, 4x4) , Bhuvneshwar b de Grandhomme 1 (12b) , Kuldeep c de Grandhomme b Astle 15 (33b, 1x4) , Yuzvendra Chahal (not out) 18 (37b, 3x4) , Khaleel Ahmed b Neesham 5 (5b, 1x4) ; Extras (lb-1, w-6): 7. Total (in 30.5 overs): 92.
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Dhawan, 5.5), 2-23 (Rohit, 7.6), 3-33 (Rayudu, 10.2), 4-33 (Karthik, 10.5), 5-33 (Shubman, 11.6), 6-35 (Kedar, 13.1), 7-40 (Bhuvneshwar, 16.4), 8-55 (Pandya, 19.4), 9-80 (Kuldeep, 29.1).
New Zealand bowling: Henry 8-2-30-0, Boult 10-4-21-5, de Grandhomme 10-2-26-3, Astle 2-0-9-1, Neesham 0.5-0-5-1.
New Zealand: Martin Guptill c Pandya b Bhuvneshwar 14 (4b, 2x4, 1x6) , Henry Nicholls (not out) 30 (42b, 4x4, 1x6) , Kane Williamson c Karthik b Bhuvneshwar 11 (18b, 2x4) , Ross Taylor (not out) 37 (25b, 2x4, 3x6) ; Extras (nb-1): 1. Total (for two wkts. in 14.4 overs): 93.
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Guptill, 0.4), 2-39 (Williamson, 6.2).
India bowling: Bhuvneshwar 5-1-25-2, Khaleel 3-0-19-0, Pandya 3-0-15-0, Chahal 2.4-0-32-0, Kuldeep 1-0-2-0.
Toss: New Zealand.
Man-of-the-Match: Boult.
New Zealand won by eight wickets with 35.2 overs to spare.
