Grand home win for New Zealand

Mt. Maunganui (New Zealand), Feb. 11: In a stunning reversal of fortunes, an underwhelming India suffered their first ODI series whitewash in more than three decades as New Zealand completed a 3-0 sweep with a fivewicket victory in the third match here on Tuesday.

It is the first whitewash for India in 31 years in a series in which all matches have been played. They were beaten 5-0 by the West Indies back in 1989 in an away assignment. This came within days of India sweeping a fivematch T20 series.

Henry Nicholls scored

80 in 103 balls and Martin Guptill made 66 off 46 as the Black Caps scored 300 for five in 47.1 overs. Colin de Grandhomme smacked 58 not out off 28 balls at the end to help seal the win with 17 deliveries to spare.

Earlier, India had scored

296 for seven after being put into bat, thanks to K L Rahul’s (112) fourth ODI hundred. Chasing a subpar 297, New Zealand got off to a flying start as Guptill and Nicholls put on 50 off just 40 balls. Overall, they added 106 for the first wicket. Gupitll smacked six fours and four sixes as the Indian new ball bowlers faced an onslaught.

Shardul Thakur (1-87) and Navdeep Saini (0-68) struggled to find their rhythm and were taken for runs, while Jasprit Bumrah finished the series wicket-less. Yuzvendra Chahal (3-47) provided the breakthrough, bowling Guptill in the 17th over.

At the other end, Nicholls scored a halfcentury off 72 balls and anchored the innings. He added 53 runs with Kane Williamson (22), but Chahal struck twice and

Ravindra Jadeja (1-45) removed the in-form Ross Taylor (12) cheaply.

New Zealand were reduced to 189 for four in the 33rd over at that stage. Taylor was adjudged player of the series for amassing 194 runs in three innings and being dismissed only once. De Grandhomme took centre stage then and smashed a half-century off only 21 balls. His explosive knock included six fours and three sixes, as his fifth wicket partnership with Jimmy Neesham (19) came off only 31 balls.

India’s fielding was lax and failed to build pressure on the Black Caps, an apt representation of their struggles in this series. This was after Rahul’s first hundred at number five helped anchor India’s innings. He hit nine fours and two sixes, and rescued India from a precarious 62 for three. —