Trent Boult gave no respite to India. After tearing them apart a couple of days ago in Hamilton, Boult once again ran through India’s top order along with fellow paceman Matt Henry in the fifth and final ODI at Wellington.
India were rocked early by Matt Henry after opting to bat first. Henry bowled a peach of a delivery that pitched on middle and hit Rohit Sharma’s off stump to provide New Zealand with the early breakthrough. But a few overs later, Boult produced another delivery which gave strong competition to Henry’s effort for the ball of the match. Boult castled Dhoni for 1 to reduce India to 18 for 4.
For the 6 balls he was at the crease, Dhoni did not look comfortable at all. He was rocked on the pads a couple of times with one of them even prompting New Zealand to use up their only review when Matt Henry got one to come back in from a good length.
In the third ball of the 10th over, Boult got it to slant back in a little, cramping Dhoni, who got himself into a tangle, for room. He ended up playing all around that delivery and crashed onto his stumps.
In between these two dismissals, India had lost Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill. Both of them were guilty of playing rash shots.
Apart from the inability of coping against a swinging ball, India’s torrid start also brought Rohit Sharma’s decision to bat first on a pitch that was certain to assist the seamers early on. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, in fact, was happy to bowl first and made it clear that would have opted to the field had the coin favoured him during the toss.