After losing the T20I series 0-5, New Zealand bounce back to hand Virat Kohli's Team India their first-ever whitewash in 31 years by winning ODI series 3-0
Virat Kohli (centre) reacts during the third ODI against New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui yesterday. Pic/AFP
Mt. Maunganui (NZ): It's not even a fortnight for the Indian team's first-ever 5-0 win on tour in the T20 format here. However, on the same ground on Tuesday, India were humbled 0-3 in the ODI format by New Zealand.
It's a rarity to see India missing regular openers [Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan] due to injury, captain Virat Kohli struggling for runs [just 75 runs in the ODI series] and Jasprit Bumrah hopelessly searching for a wicket. No wonder India lost all their matches of an ODI series after 31 years.
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For the first time, captain Kohli, who has led the team in 17 ODI series, was playing a dead rubber. The manner in which they were crushed by the Kiwis [five-wicket loss] in the third and final ODI, there was a sense of inevitability to the outcome.
'It's not serious'
"Overall if you see, it is just the fourth or fifth series loss in the last 4-5 years. The other team is also here to play. You cannot win every match. We have won one series [T20] and lost the other, so it is not something too serious to ponder over," said leggie Yuzvendra Chahal [who finished with 3-47 on Tuesday] in his post-match press conference.
Put in to bat, India lost their first three wickets inside 13 overs for just 62 runs. It was a far cry from New Zealand's 106-run opening stand in 16.3 overs.
The consistent KL Rahul (112) and Shreyas Iyer (62) and Manish Pandey (42) rebuilt India's innings to help them reach 296-7 in 50 overs.
KL Rahul celebrates his century against New Zealand. Pic/PTI
Rahul and Pandey's wickets off consecutive deliveries from medium pacer Hamish Bennett, who was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with 4-64, in the 47th over resulted in the Indian batsmen's inability to capitalise in the death overs, scoring just 86 runs in the last 10 overs of their innings.
The century opening stand from Martin Guptill (66) and Henry Nicholls (80) set the stage for the hosts in their chase. Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja did well to keep Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor quiet, but Colin de Grandhomme's quickfire 28-ball 58 not out and Tom Latham's unbeaten 32 off 34 balls helped the Kiwis chase the target with 17 balls to spare.
Kohli was understandably annoyed with the performance his team put up in the ODI series. "The games were not as bad as the scoreline suggests. It boils down to those chances that we didn't grab. I don't think it was not enough to win games in international cricket," Kohli said.
Didn't deserve to win: Kohli
"With the ball, we were not able to make breakthroughs, we were not at all good on the field. We haven't played so badly but when you don't grab those chances, you don't deserve to win," he added.
"Batsmen coming back from tough situations was a positive sign for us, but the way we fielded and bowled, the composure wasn't enough to win games," Kohli asserted.
Brief scores
India 296-7 (KL Rahul 112, S Iyer 62, M Pandey 42; H Bennett 4-64) lose to NZ 300-5 in 47.1 overs (H Nicholls 80, M Guptill 66, C Grandhomme 58*; Y Chahal 3-47) by five wickets
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