The Indian cricket team had already won the series by taking 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series against New Zealand but in one of the worst batting performances in 50-overs format in recent times, India was bundled out for just 92 in the fourth One Day International at Hamilton. It took just 14.4 overs for New Zealand to chase down the target. After the game concluded, the visitors faced their biggest ever loss in terms of balls to spare with 212 balls remaining.
It looked like the final match will have the same humiliating outcome with India in major trouble after electing to bat first. However, a brilliant batting performance from the middle-order backed up by good bowling helped the visitors register a historic 4-1 win, their first by this margin in a bilateral series in New Zealand.
Skipper Virat Kohli, who was a part of the playing XI in the first three ODIs, took to Twitter to laud his squad for coming back from a tough situation in the final match against Kiwis.
After losing the first three ODIs of the 5-match series, New Zealand made an outstanding comeback in Hamilton against India on Thursday. In the absence of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, India's much-vaunted batting was dismissed for its seventh-lowest ODI total —92 in 30.5 overs as Trent Boult (5/21) and Colin de Grandhomme (3/26) exploited the swinging conditions to perfection.
In return, the hosts chased down the target quite easily, winning the match with 8 wickets and 212 balls remaining.
While Rohit Sharma termed this batting collapse ‘one of India’s worst performances’, speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar stated that the unit missed their regular skipper Virat Kohli.