Match Report
Match Report: NZ vs IND (5th ODI): Indian bowlers shine in the final ODI
By Aditya Pratap - Feb 3, 2019 3:39 pm
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There were several questions before the fifth One-Day International for Team India, who got bundled out for a mere 92 in the fourth game. The absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni hurt India a lot and India’s batting-order couldn’t manage to survive against Trent Bolt’s swing. However, Dhoni’s return was confirmed on the eve of the match.

India
Mohammed Shami

Despite a poor start with the bat, Team India managed to win the fifth and final One-Day International match of the five-game series by 35 runs. Indian bowlers successfully defended an average target of 253 runs and dismissed New Zealand for 217 in 44.1 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowler with a spell of 10-0-41-3. Apart from him, Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya took two wickets apiece.

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New Zealand’s chase didn’t start well as Shami sent Henry Nicholls back in the pavilion in fourth over. Colin Munro seems to become Shami’s bunny and got dismissed to him a third time in the series. Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson’s experience pair was in the middle and they were expected to steady their ship. This was not the case this time as Pandya’s inswinger found Taylor in front of the wicket. Tom Latham stitched a 77-run fourth wicket partnership with Williamson but the skipper fell to a poor shot on a rather poor Kedar Jadhav delivery.

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Jimmy Neesham put some fight in the end with stroke-filled innings of 44 runs but he didn’t find any support from the other end. Rest was the formalities for Indian bowlers and they cleaned the tail in no time to win this series by a margin of 4-1.

rayudu
Ambati Rayudu

Earlier, Ambati Rayudu and Vijay Shankar rescued India’s innings with a 98-run partnership for the fifth wicket after Kiwi bowlers made early inroads and reduced the visitors to 18/4. Rayudu grabbed this golden opportunity with both hands and scored 90 runs in 113 balls. Hardik Pandya’s swashbuckling cameo (45 off 22) helped India to boost the score in death overs. India got all out from 252 in 49.5 overs.

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