New Zealand notched up the competitive total of 278 runs at the loss of just three wickets and with 11 balls to spare against India. An emphatic victory for the home side, they were never really in trouble as the openers gave them a flying start. India came back with a couple of quick wickets, but that brought Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson to the crease, who played sensible cricket to negate the danger posed by the spin threat of Jadeja and Ashwin. They rotated the strike and concentrated on not giving their wickets away to the spin duo. That stand set the platform and the job was duly completed by Taylor and McCullum.
Nothing much to be said about the Indian bowling, except for the spinners, the others never looked like taking a wicket. Aaron in particular looked pretty ordinary as he fed the Kiwis with short and wide stuff outside off. That left too much for the spin duo to do and once the Kiwis had decided to play them with caution, the game was done from an Indian perspective. Dhoni tried some unusual things like giving Binny just the one over and bringing on Rayudu to bowl, but those remained just unusual and nothing worked.
So the No. 1 side before the series started, has fallen to the No. 8 side. Shows that you can never underestimate a side who are a) in great form coming into the series and b) when they are playing in their home conditions. If one has to be harsh, the series should’ve been over at Eden Park and India should’ve been down 0-4 after today, but whichever way you look at it – this is a harsh lesson that the visitors have been taught by a confident home side.
One must reserve special praise for both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor. The former brought up his fourth fifty of the series on the trot and the latter played the ideal ODI innings, eschewing risks and playing percentage cricket. Ross was outstanding on the off-side and his late-cutting off Jadeja was exemplary. Aaron helped him with dross and he didn’t let that go unpunished as well, showing off his fierce cutting skills. It was a special moment for him as he brought up his hundred in front of the adoring home crowd.