New Zealand’s Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme wreaked havoc with the new ball to bundle out India for 92 in the fourth and penultimate ODI in Hamilton on Thursday which the hosts won with eight wickets to spare.
Bowling his 10 overs at a stretch, Boult troubled the Indian batsmen with his swing to return with impressive figures of 5 for 21. Boult was ably supported by Grandhomme (3/26) as the duo made perfect use of the new ball and swung the ball both ways to make life miserable for Indian batsmen after New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss elected to bowl.
In the absence of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian batting unit found the going tough against the Kiwi bowling attack and lost wickets regularly to slump to their seventh lowest ODI total.
India’s lowest ODI total is 54 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 2000 and at 40/7 that seemed in real danger of being obliterated. Eventually, they managed to avoid that ignominy as well as going past the lowest score against New Zealand (88).
Struggling at 55/8, Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav shared 25 runs for the ninth wicket to take India close to the 100-run mark before being shot out in 30.5 overs.
And, believe it or not, Chahal — batting with the iconic MRF logo on his willow — faced the most number of deliveries and top-scored for the Indian side. Who could have thought?
Here’s how social media reacted to India’s collapse and Chahal’s starring role with the bat.
Looks like the entire Indian cricket team went on a vacation with Virat Kohli. #NZvIND
— Ajith Ramamurthy (@Ajith_tweets) January 31, 2019
What were the odds on Chahal being top-scorer? And playing the longest innings?
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 31, 2019
No Indian batsman made a single digit score during the first three ODI matches. Four of those already today! #NZvIND
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) January 31, 2019
this is a boult from the blue #NZvIND
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) January 31, 2019
#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/VoooTrWL75
— SAGAR (@sagarcasm) January 31, 2019
India 55/7.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 31, 2019
Whew! Just went past their lowest ODI total of 54 at Sharjah against Sri Lanka on 29 Oct 2000.#NZvIND
New Zealand unable to get past India's spin twins in the middle overs. Not for the first time in this series. 😜 #NZvIND
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) January 31, 2019
Brian Charles Chahal.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) January 31, 2019
Chahal deserves an interview on chahal tv only for that boundary.
— Monica (@monicas004) January 31, 2019
#4thODI pic.twitter.com/FZQIzrtBiI
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) January 31, 2019
Indian inning sums up pic.twitter.com/1cjqZDdB18
— Sunil- The cricketer (@1sInto2s) January 31, 2019
Indian batting in this series. #NZvInd pic.twitter.com/IgpRuPaaFp
— Bade Chote (@badechote) January 31, 2019
India have done their bit for energy conservation today by ensuring the lights don't need to be turned on at Hamilton #NZvIND
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) January 31, 2019