India Suffer ODI Series Whitewash Against New Zealand After 39 Years
Mumbai: It was complete dominance by Blackcaps and whitewashed India by 3-0 winning the third and the final ODI at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui by five wickets.
India winless in a bilateral series of more than one match for the first time since 1989 – when West Indies blanked India 5-0 at home.
Chasing a total of 297 runs for the win, New Zealand were on cruise control for the majority of the innings and then hit a flurry of wickets to overhaul the target with allrounder Colin de Grandhomme smashing a 28-ball 58 to eventually make light weather of the total.
Martin Guptill paved the way for New Zealand to become New Zealand’s biggest opener in one-day matches, defeating Nathan Astle, scoring a blistering 66-run knock from just 46 balls at the top of the order to the hosts. Opener Henry Nicholls set up fellow bowlers to score 80 off 103 balls.
India had a comeback when New Zealand lost three wickets for just 30 runs in the middle overs, but Tom Lathan’s prudence was not out on 34 of 32 balls and De Grandhomme’s battling innings – fifty off 21-balls – NZ helped to take the series with 17. To spare balls. Kane Williamson and Jimmy Neesham added 22 and 19 runs respectively.
For India, it was an unforgettable day for Shardul Thakur, who scored 87 runs in his 9.1 overs, while Navdeep Saini was under the pump, who conceded 68 runs in his eight overs. Jasprit Bumrah had an unforgettable series, returning for the first time wicketless. His third ODI figures were 10-0-50-0.
For India KL Rahul’s fourth ODI ton (112) and Shreyas Iyer’s eighth ODI fifty (62) to post a competitive 296 for the loss of seven wickets.
India was stopped at 62/3 till the 13th over before Rahul and Iyer hit a century. Manish Pandey (42 off 48 balls), playing the game in place of Kedar Jadhav, then supported Rahul as the pair also scored a score of over 100, but his consecutive deliveries in the 47th over were the ball. This meant that India could not cross 300. -Chun’s mark.
For New Zealand, Hamish Bennett returned 4/64 in his ten overs, while Kyle Jamieson and Neesham added one wicket each.
India will now play two test match series against New Zealand and the 1st Test match will take place on 21st Feb.
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