Mount Maunganui: India suffered their second successive batting meltdown as New Zealand bundled out the visitors for a vastly inadequate 209 in the series-deciding fifth and final ODI Sunday.
India enjoy a 2-1 lead in the series but New Zealand are all set to level that scoreline after their bowlers maintained exemplary lines to trouble the batters.
The Shreyas Iyer-led side was expected to give a better account of themselves after getting bowled out for 89 in the fourth ODI at this venue a couple of days back.
A fruitful opening stand was a non-negotiable for it but Matthew Fisher dashed those hopes, getting rid of Rohit Sharma early.
Rohit’s lean run in this series continued as his half-hearted chip off Fisher ended in the hands of Dean Foxcroft at short mid-wicket.
Virat Kohli too departed soon but was tad unlucky to see his cut off a wide delivery from Fisher getting nabbed by a diving stumper Tim Seifert.
Ruturaj Gaikwad too did not last long. Gaikwad tried to drive Jacob Duffy but the ball seamed back to take an inner edge en route to Seifert’s big gloves.
India slipped to 34 for three and it could have been 34 for four had Foxcroft at covers managed to keep his fingers around the ball after
Axar Patel uppishly drove Duffy.
Shreyas and Axar (46) added 52 runs for the fourth wicket stand as India staged a mini recovery.
But Blair Tickner snapped the partnership as Shreyas perished to a short-pitched ball yet again.
Michael Bracewell ended the resistance of Axar soon as the left-hander pulled the off-spinner straight into the hands of Will Young inside the circle.
Ishan Kishan (46), who slammed Duffy for two sixes in an over, and Naman Dhir (22) tried to revive the Indian innings with a 39-run association for the sixth with but Kiwis skipper Mitchell Santner (3/47) intervened at this juncture.
The seasoned left-arm spinner jettisoned Dhir as the hosts opened the door to India’s lower-order batters.
Kishan eventually fell to Duffy in his effort to accelerate the scoring.
India were in grave danger of missing the 200-run mark but some beefy blows by Arshdeep Singh and Mohammad Siraj helped India go past that score.
But India will be hugely disappointed with their batting effort on a largely smooth wicket.