"This is God's way of making us appreciate rain"- Fans slam India's batting performance in 3rd ODI vs NZ

Team India failed to bat their entire quota of 50 overs against New Zealand in the third ODI at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Wednesday, November 30. The Men in Blue were asked to bat first and the hosts bundled out the opposition for just 219 runs.

Apart from a fighting half-century from Washington Sundar, no other batter really lived up to the billing. Just when a partnership seemed to be building, some or the other batter threw his wicket away with a poor shot.

Fans on Twitter slammed India's batting and also questioned the exclusion of an in-form Sanju Samson for some of the players that failed. Here are some of the reactions:

They dropped Sanju Samson to play this guy? What an amazing thought process. Captain Dhawan, Coach Laxman and the entire team management deserves a big clap for this decision. MASTER STROKE

#INDvsNZ https://t.co/DQAKnHIve2

India has punished us with this batting performance. This is God's way of making us appreciate rain. #NZvIND

Haram is the apt word to describe how India plays ODIs

Itne dot balls bhai.. Aadhe se jyada balls dots hain 🥲

#NZvINDonPrime

Daryl Mitchell bowling the 47th over. Woah. And Sundar taking a single first ball of the over to give strike to Arshdeep. Are we playing a Test?

Country of nearly 1.4 billion people and Yuzi Chahal bats at 9.

Our current best ODI players are two young CEAT guns

Should back him till 35 years irrespective of form. Should give opening spot in T20Is & ODIs ❤ till then. twitter.com/GemsOfCricket/…

219 is such a mediocre score and only Washington and Shreyas Iyer as usual performed.
But people will still pick sky,pant, Rahul in their playing xi and cry short ball short ball when it comes to Iyer. 👌

There are two celebs named Sanju. One is a criminal, treated like a hero. The other is a hero, treated like a criminal.

I will prefer to watch Ind w vs Eng w 2nd odi highlights over this Ind vs NZ match

ICT is the only team that can make even an average bowler like Daryl Mitchell look like Shaun Pollock😭😭😭😭

Indian batters didn't show game awareness

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bowl first in testing conditions on a green pitch. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill seemed to have done really well initially to counter the new-ball burst.

However, Gill (13) spooned a loose delivery straight into the hands of the square-leg fielder. Dhawan (28) also departed after getting a start, chopping one onto his stumps. Shreyas Iyer looked good for his 49, but other batters like Rishabh Pant (10), Suryakumar Yadav (6), and Deepak Hooda (12) were all guilty of poor shots.

Washington Sundar once again showed his batting pedigree through a gutsy half-century. The long tail consisting of Yuzvendra Chahal (8) and Arshdeep Singh (9) tried their best to give the all-rounder as much support as possible, but 219 was all they managed in the end.

Adam Milne and Daryl Mitchell starred with the ball for New Zealand, returning with figures of 3/57 and 3/25, respectively. Tim Southee picked up two wickets, while Lockie Ferguson and Mitchell Santner scalped one wicket apiece.

India will need to strike early if they want to make a match out of this and end the series on level terms.