India v New Zealand, 4th ODI Review: India too reliant on Kohli, registers first defeat at Ranchi

With just one win over a month, New Zealand team have suffered a nightmarish Indian tour so far. After losing the Test series 3-0, the visitors needed to make sure they win this game if they had to keep their hopes alive for a comeback in the ODI’s and so they did!

Let’s take a look at the match review to see how the game panned out:

It all started with the unexpected as Kane Williamson won the toss for the first time on this tour. Didn’t expect that, did we?

Martin Guptill, who has had a nightmare of an Indian tour managed to get the visitors off to a flying start alongside Tom Latham. The big Kiwi opener while struggled a bit against Umesh, he did took a particular liking to the newcomer Dhawal Kulkarni, smacking him off to all parts of the ground.

With the scoreboard reading 80-0 in the first 10 overs, Dhoni decided to introduce some spin into the fold and the decision paid dividends straight away as Axar Patel got the prized scalp of Tom Latham.

Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill tried to rotate the strike in the middle overs, but with the run rate going down the drain, the duo decided to up the ante with the big shots.

India needed a break, and it was Hardik Pandya, who was having an off day with the ball bowling a bucket loads of wide, who somehow managed to land a bowl in the right area which saw Guptill perish at the score of 72.

The incoming Ross Taylor and the Kiwi Captain never managed to get out of the first gear, thanks to a slowish track and some good bowling from the spin trio of Axar Patel, Kedar Jadhav and Amit Mishra.

While, Mishra eventually pushed the visitors further back with a couple of wickets including Kane Williamson and the dangerous Jimmy Neesham, the last hope for Kiwis, Ross Taylor, perished off to a master class runout from MSD. The type of run out you would have to see to believe!

With no Corey Anderson down the lower order, the rest of the visiting side was never actually going to trouble the Indian bowling as they finished with a decent score of 260 in 50 overs.

The home side, meanwhile, were really confident going into this chase, but needed the openers to provide a good platform upfront.

However, Rohit Sharma managed to fail our expectations yet again as he got out to a beauty from Tim Southee. Another failure for the Mumbaikar who has struggled terribly in this series.

In walked Virat Kohli, as the nerves of Indian fans finally settled a bit.

While, Kohli and Rahane struck out a decent partnership, the onus was on the Kiwi spinners to cause some destruction and so they did!

Yes, it was Mitchell Santner who was the economical one, but it was actually Ish Sodhi who prized away the wicket of the big fish Virat Kohli and the rest unfortunately followed!

MS Dhoni, who walked in at no. 4 never really got going on the slowish track of Ranchi. With dew not being a factor as expected, the visiting spinners dominated the proceedings before all-rounder Jimmy Neesham sent back the duo of Rahane and MS Dhoni into the hut, thus inflicting further pain on India.

With the pressure now on Manish Pandey to take India over the line, the right-hander played a couple of gorgeous shots before perishing to Tim Southee. Kedar Jadhav followed him the next ball while, Pandya’s bad day in the office continued in the second innings as he fell cheaply for 9.

The game was expected to be done and dusted by now, but the likes of Axar Patel, Amit Mishra and Dhawal Kulkarni made sure that India were always in the game until the end, with a commendable effort with the bat.

At one point, it even looked like India could pull off a miracle but, 260 was always gonna be a big ask for the lower order and the home side eventually fell short by 19 runs, folding out at lowly 241.

It was a much-needed win for the Kiwis who made sure they are still alive in this series with a very good performance as the balance now hangs at 2-2 in the series.

Brief Scores: 

New Zealand: 260/7 in 50 overs (Martin Guptill 72; Amit Mishra 2/42)

India: 240/10 in 48.4 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 57; Tim Southee 3/40)

Man of the Match: Martin Guptil