In the end the much anticipated deciding ODI between India and New Zealand turned out to be an anti-climax. After their disappointing show in the Test series, New Zealand put up a spirited and much improved performance in the ODI series. They managed to stretch the outcome of the series to the last match but ultimately fell short when it mattered. The Kiwis missed a golden opportunity to win their first bilateral ODI series on Indian soil. India won the series 3-2 and registered their 5th bilateral series win in ODIs against New Zealand in India. Here is the complete match report.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss for the 4th time in 5 ODIs in this series. He departed from his usual practice of inserting the opposition and elected to bat on a wicket that looked good for batting. India made 2 changes to their side with the fit again Jasprit Bumrah replacing Dhawal Kulkarni and Jayant Yadav making his debut in place of Hardik Pandya. For New Zealand, Corey Anderson replaced Anton Devcich. Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane got India off to a cautious but steady start.

Rohit Sharma is a class act and he was his usual aggressive self. He did not get much of the strike initially but in the 12th over of the innings bowled by James Neesham he struck him over long off for six. He soon struck Ish Sodhi for six straight over the bowler’s head. These were the kind of shots that one expects from a batsman of Rohit’s class and calibre. Kohli has been in sublime form in this series and he didn’t take long to get into his stride. Rohit struck Ish Sodhi for another huge six over mid-wicket. Rohit was in imperious form and looked good for a century when he pulled a bouncer from Trent Boult into the hands of James Neesham at mid-wicket. Rohit had scored 70 off just 65 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes.

Dhoni was the next man in and he preferred to deal in boundaries. Kohli was working the ball into the gaps and was rotating the strike well. The pair put on 71 runs in a little less than 16 overs when Dhoni tried to sweep a full ball from Mitchell Santner and was adjudged LBW. Kohli was out soon after when he tried to hit Sodhi for a six and was well caught by Martin Guptill at long off for a well-made 65. At that stage, India looked like collapsing for a total less than 250. However, Kedar Jadhav who has come on in leaps and bounds in this series, played a sensible knock with good support from Axar Patel. By this time the pitch had slowed down considerably and the spinners were getting prodigious turn.

Jadhav scored an unbeaten 39 off 37 balls with 2 fours and a six. Tim Southee bowled 10 overs conceding 56 runs while Corey Anderson bowled 4 overs conceding 27 runs. India had scored 269/6 off their 50 overs and this looked a challenging total on this pitch.

The Kiwi innings got off to the worst possible start when Martin Guptill was bowled in the very first over by a perfect outswinger from Umesh Yadav for a duck. Tom Latham tried to work Jasprit Bumrah on the leg side but only succeeded in getting a leading edge to Jayant Yadav who took the catch. Bumrah bowled his 5 overs for 16 runs and took 1 wicket. However, in spite of the loss of the early wicket, New Zealand reached 63/2 in the 15th over when there was a collapse of monumental proportions. Of all the wickets in the ODI series this was the one which was the slowest and assisted the spinners the most. All the 3 Indian spinners exploited the conditions and the Kiwi batsmen had no clue on how to tackle them.

New Zealand lost their last 8 wickets for 16 runs in 8.4 overs. Corey Anderson was LBW to a delivery from Jayant Yadav for a duck. Tim Southee was stumped brilliantly by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off the bowling of Amit Mishra without opening his account. Mishra was superb with is clever variations in pace and the Kiwi batsmen struggled to pick him. The Kiwis were bowled out for 79 and India had won by a mammoth margin of 190 runs. This was India’s most comprehensive win against New Zealand in terms of runs and 4th most comprehensive against any opposition in ODIs. Amit Mishra bowled 6 overs for 18 runs and picked up 5 wickets. He was named the Man of the Match and was also the Man of the Series for picking up 15 wickets in the series at a miserly bowling average of 14.33.

India can look forward to the rest of the season with confidence and optimism.