India vs New Zealand, 4th ODI: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis
New Zealand annihilated India at Hamilton by eight wickets to get themselves on the board in the series.
After putting India in to bat, the hosts ripped through the Indian batting order to leave them tottering at 40-7. Though Pandya and Chahal ensured that the visitors breached the 88 run mark (the lowest score against NZ in ODIs for India), their performance was hardly anything to ride home about.
Trent Boult was the wrecker-in-chief as he bagged his fifth five-wicket haul while Colin De Grandhomme chipped in with three crucial wickets.
In reply, Martin Guptill started the innings with the first three deliveries all going for boundaries. Though Bhuvneshwar eventually got the better of him and Williamson, Taylor and Nicholls remained unbeaten to guide the team home.
Here is a look at five talking points from the game:
#5 India once again succumb to the moving ball
It is a well-established fact that India possesses one of the best batting line-ups in the world. However, recently, their susceptibility against the swinging ball has come to the fore and that characteristic is in danger of becoming a worrying trend.
At Hamilton, the Indians had no answer to the movement Boult and De Grandhomme generated and meekly surrendered their wickets. Yet, surprisingly, the collapse wasn’t the first of its kind.
Even in the 1st ODI against Australia, India found themselves on the back-foot after some adroit swing bowling by Richardson and Behrendorff.
A few months prior to that, India’s top order struggled in England and it eventually led to a series defeat.
Though it would be too early to draw conclusions, the pattern of some of India’s losses would surely cause a furrowed brow or two.
The World Cup is scheduled to take place in England and even though pitches are as flat as highways these days, there will always be a hint of swing in the United Kingdom.
And if India intend to repeat their heroics of 1983, such collapses simply can’t happen.