‘Pacers need to use their brains’ is Dhoni’s indictment
Hamilton: India slumped to their second consecutive series defeat overseas as New Zealand rode on Ross Taylor’s unbeaten century to thrash the visitors by seven wickets in the fourth ODI and take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series on Tuesday.
Chasing 279 for victory, the Kiwis reached 280 for three in 48.1 overs with Taylor scoring a match-winning 127-ball 112 not out to take the hosts home with 11 balls to spare.
Taylor also shared two important partnerships – first with Kane Williamson (60) putting on 130-run for the third wicket and then with skipper Brendon McCullum (49 not out), an unbroken 92 runs for the fourth wicket.
For India, Mohammed Shami (1/61) and Varun Aaron (1/51) were the only wicket-takers but they proved to be extremely expensive. Ravindra Jadeja (0/33) and Ravichandran Ashwin (0-41) bowled economically, but couldn’t claim a wicket, which proved to be costly. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/62) too proved to be ineffective.
Earlier, India skipper MS Dhoni and Jadeja had produced magnificent late onslaught after opener Rohit Sharma scored a half-century, to guide India to 278 for five in their allotted 50 overs.
In reply, New Zealand got off to a rollicking start with Jesse Ryder and Martin Guptill mistreating the Indian bowling attack. The two of them scored a flurry of boundaries, especially off Mohammed Shami’s bowling, and together hit 10 fours and a six in their opening stand of 54 runs.
But once again Ryder failed to sustain and was bowled in the eighth over by first-change Aaron.
Guptill was gone four runs later in the never next over, as Shami extracted his revenge from the opposite end, trapping the Auckland centurion LBW.
Williamson and Taylor thereafter capitalised on the platform laid by the openers. The former’s later dismissal brought Brendon McCullum in to bat and he steered the team home along with Taylor.
“It was quite a disappointing bowling performance from the fast bowlers,” Dhoni said after the match.
“The middle overs were a crucial phase where with the open field we should not have given away too many runs. But we were giving a boundary every over and not being able to build any pressure.”
The skipper said that he has the abundance of pacers but they need to improvise a lot.
“When it comes to the talent part, we definitely have fast bowlers who can bowl well. But they will have to start using their brains more and improvise themselves. This is one area where we lack. But if you see the talent aspect, definitely we have got bowlers who can do well,” Dhoni said after the defeat.
The skipper praised his spinners Ashwin and Jadeja who were the only economical bowlers. Though both went without wickets in their 10 overs, the tweakers slowed down the run rate in the middle overs. (Agencies)
SCORECARD
India:
R Sharma c Ronchi b Will’son 79
V Kohli c Neesham b Southee 2
A Rahane c Southee b Mills 3
A Rayudu c Ronchi b Bennett 37
MS Dhoni not out 79
R Ashwin c Bennett b Southee 5
R Jadeja not out 62
Extras: (lb-4, w-7) 11
Total: (5 wkts; 50 overs) 278
FOW: 1-5, 2-22, 3-101, 4-142, 5-151
Bowling: Mills 10-2-42-1, Southee 10-1-36-2, Bennett 9-0-67-1, Neesham 8-0-59-0, N McCullum 10-0-44-0, Williamson 3-0-26-1
New Zealand:
M Guptill lbw b Shami 35
J Ryder b Aaron 19
K Williamson run out 60
R Taylor not out 112
B McCullum not out 49
Extras: (b-1, w-3, nb-1) 5
Total: (3 wkts; 48.1 overs) 280
FOW: 1-54, 2-58, 3-188
Bowling: Kumar 10-0-62-0, Shami 8-0-61-1, Aaron 6.1-0-51-1, Jadeja 10-2-33-0, Ashwin 10-0-41-0, Binny 1-0-8-0, Rayudu 3-0-23-0