Hamilton: India seemed shorn of their aura in the absence of talismanic skipper Virat Kohli as New Zealand pulled off a stunning eight-wicket win in the fourth cricket ODI here, Thursday to halt the visiting side’s domination.
India’s much-vaunted batting was dismissed for their seventh lowest ODI total – 92 in 30.5 overs – after Trent Boult (5/21) dished out a deadly opening spell. It was also the lowest total posted by any side on this venue, the previous lowest of 122 also against India’s name.
Boult wreaked havoc with the new ball and in Colin de Grandhomme’s (3/26) company utilised the swinging conditions at the Seddon Park perfectly.
“Never expected this to happen. (But) games like this 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.
“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,” said New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said.
While chasing, even though New Zealand lost Martin Guptill (14) and skipper Kane Williamson (11) early to Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/25), the hosts completed the formalities in 14.4 overs with eight wickets in hand. Henry Nicholls (30 n o) and Ross Taylor (37 n o) saw the hosts through without any further damage.
Earlier, the pitch didn’t seem unplayable but the Indian batsmen failed to apply themselves against the swing bowling of Boult and Grandhomme.
Only four Indian batsnmen – Shikhar Dhawan (13), Hardik Pandya (16), Kuldeep Yadav (15) and Yuzvendra Chahal (18 not out) – posted double digit scores.
Dhawan was the first to go followed by Rohit who did not have a happy 200th outing for India.
Grandhomme then joined the party and dismissed both 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 by Boult off his own bowling.
Reeling at 33 for 5, India desperately needed Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to do the repair job. But it was not to be as wickets kept tumbling with Boult dismissing both Jadhav and Pandya in quick succession.
Struggling at 55 for 8, Chahal and Kuldeep shared 25 runs for the ninth wicket to take India close to the 100-run mark before being shot out in 30.5 overs.
Brief scores: India 92 in 30.5 overs (Trent Boult 5/21, Colin de Grandhomme 3/26) lost to New Zealand 93 for 2 in 14.4 overs (Ross Taylor 37 n o, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/25) by eight wickets
List of lowest ODI scores by India
Total Opposition Venue Year
54 Sri Lanka Sharjah 2000
63 Australia Sydney 1981
78 Sri Lanka Kanpur 1986
79 Pakistan Sialkot 1978
88 New Zealand Dambula 2010
91 South Africa Durban 2006
PTI