New Delhi:
The Indian cricket team was without Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in the Hamilton ODI. However, they were leading 3-0 and the entire squad was in top form. No one told that to Trent Boult who produced a sensational spell of bowling to decimate Rohit Sharma’s side. Boult’s 5/21, his fifth five-wicket haul helped New Zealand bowl India out for 92, their lowest score in ODIs in New Zealand the hosts coasted home by eight wickets to secure a consolation win in the fourth ODI at Seddon Park on Thursday. Boult’s haul provided plenty of smiles to a New Zealand outfit that were outplayed in all departments in the first three ODIs at Napier and Bay Oval.
Kane Williamson chose to bowl and they made three changes, resting Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Santner while India also made a couple of changes, handing a debut to Under-19 World Cup star Shubman Gill and getting Khaleel Ahmed in place of Mohammed Shami. The start looked promising with Shikhar Dhawan slamming a boundary and an upper-cut six off Matt Henry but in the sixth over, lightning ‘Boult’ struck.
The left-hander trapped Shikhar Dhawan LBW for 13 with a full ball that nipped back in to trap the batsman in front of middle and leg. Boult got a delivery to dart back in off the seam and Rohit Sharma (7) could manage to only push it back to the bowler who took a smart return catch. At the other end, Colin de Grandhomme gave Boult good support as he picked up Ambati Rayudu (0) and Dinesh Karthik (0) in one over. Shubman Gill (9), the debutant got going with a boundary but he was also undone by a sharp inswinger from Boult as the batsman chipped a drive back to the bowler. Kedar Jadhav (1) was trapped plumb in front by a full ball that curved back in and even the review could not save him. Hardik Pandya slammed three boundaries in one over but he was also sent back with a short ball on leg stump that stuck on the pitch and the batsman could only glove it to the keeper Tom Latham.
The fact that it took a 25-run partnership for the ninth wicket, the highest in the match for India between Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, spoke about how abject the collapse was. Todd Astle accounted for Kuldeep (15) and James Neesham cleaned up Khaleel Ahmed (5) as India were bundled out for under a 100 for the second time against the Kiwis.
In response, Martin Guptill started off with a bang by blasting two fours and a six in the first over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but the bowler had the last laugh as he got a leading edge to point. Williamson looked good with a couple of boundaries but he played a lazy shot to gift Bhuvneshwar his second wicket.
Henry Nicholls and Ross Taylor ensured there were no more scares and both batsmen scored at a decent rate. Taylor blasted two consecutive sixes off Chahal and finished off the match with a six and a four to third man as New Zealand won with 212 balls to spare, their best-ever against India.
New Zealand have earned a consolation win to get back their low confidence while for India, they must already be missing Kohli and Dhoni.
