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.
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.
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.
See Twitter reaction after India’s remarkable series win in NZ;
Victory for India!
They triumph by 35 runs in the 5th ODI to seal a 4-1 series win. #NZvIND SCORECARD 👇https://t.co/pMY7C9gsJt pic.twitter.com/X9ruPfrxIa
— ICC (@ICC) February 3, 2019
Game Over! #TeamIndia clinch the final ODI by 35 runs and wrap the series 4-1 #NZvIND 🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/2cRTTnS8Ss
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 3, 2019
Good recovery from India to get to a respectable 252 after being 18/4. Loved the positivity of Vijay Shankar, Kedar and a very mature innings from Rayudu. Hardik once again showed what an asset he is, by some incredible hitting in the end. #NZvIND
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) February 3, 2019
Rohit gets the trophy, hands it to Gill.
That guy is going to hold many of them in the coming time. #NZvIND
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) February 3, 2019
Shami is a very different bowler at this point in time… than at any other point in his career so far. #NZvInd
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) February 3, 2019
Great to win this game after being 18-4, great contributions from the middle, lower order today and really loved the way @ImRo45 used these combination of bowlers. Congratulations @BCCI #NZvInd pic.twitter.com/FXR6tDSzLt
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 3, 2019
Not a single century in a five match ODI series. A series of Shami-Chahal-Kuldeep and Bhuvi. Excellent. #NZvInd
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) February 3, 2019
India winning an ODI after losing their first four wickets in less than 20 runs batting first:
– 9/4 v Zim 266/8 (Tunbridge Wells) 1983 (60 ov game) India were 17/5 (Kapil Dev 175*)
– 18/4 v NZ 252/10 (Wellington) today (50 ov game) (Ambati Rayudu 90)#NZvInd— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) February 3, 2019
Highest win/loss ratio in home ODIs in last 5 years
2.72 South Africa
2.63 Australia
2.62 New ZealandIndia have won a series against all the three teams at their home in the space of a year – 5-1 in South Africa, 2-1 in Australia and 4-1 in New Zealand. #NZvInd
— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) February 3, 2019
this is what Hardik Pandya saw in New Zealand bowlers. #NZvIND #KWK pic.twitter.com/nMimI0HZlj
— Astronaut 🐒 (@TheRobustRascal) February 3, 2019
Three sixes in a row for Pandya. He loves doing this hat-trick against the spinners. Think it’s the fourth time he’s done that
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 3, 2019
Most probably this was the last match of MS Dhoni in New Zealand. I wish he will play for us forever but this is a sport. Your crucial innings, unbelievable glovework & leadership, those memories of the beautiful New Zealand will always be with us. 😔❤️ #NZvIND #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/CVjWP8E6e8
— Ross Taylor (@iRoshan_Rv) February 3, 2019
Fine innings from Rayudu. Nice to see he played for the team total at the end rather than knock the ball around for a century. That has to be another batting slot ticked for the World Cup.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 3, 2019
India winning an ODI after losing their first four wickets in less than 20 runs batting first:
– 9/4 v Zim 266/8 (Tunbridge Wells) 1983 (60 ov game) India were 17/5 (Kapil Dev 175*)
– 18/4 v NZ 252/10 (Wellington) today (50 ov game) (Ambati Rayudu 90)#NZvInd— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) February 3, 2019
We keep talking about opportunity lost. Today was a opportunity grabbed with both hands day. Well played Rayudu, big innings for him and Hardik at the end shows what he can do for the team.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 3, 2019
