Familiarfoe Matt Henry cut open old wounds as India’s much-vaunted batting line-up fell apart in the team’s second biggest ODI loss, a 244-run humiliation at the hands of New Zealand in the fourth one-dayer here on Friday. Henry’s sensational spell yielded 6 for a mere 27 runs as India folded for a sorry-looking 89 in their chase of 334. The pacer brought back memories of the 2019 World Cup semifinal in which he ripped through the top order with a three-wicket burst at Old Trafford to derail India’s trophy hopes.
This was after Will Young compiled a well-structured 125 as New Zealand produced a near perfect performance here to leave the Indians in shock.
India still lead the five-match series 2-1, and the series-deciding fifth and final ODI will be played here on Sunday.
2nd Biggest Defeat for India
The team’s biggest defeat by runs in the 50-over format is still a 245-run walloping by Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 2000.
The pitch was not as demonic as the score-sheet might suggest, except a hint of bounce and movement under the lights. But that was enough for Henry to wreak havoc from the very first over itself. In the first six second innings deliveries, Henry, who was playing in the ODI format after a year, poleaxed India’s hopes of mounting a strong chase.
Rohit Sharma was squared up with a rising delivery directed at his body and was caught at slips by Finn Allen. Virat Kohli departed four balls later failing to negate an incoming delivery that disturbed his stumps. Skipper Shreyas Iyer was then trapped in front of the wicket with a quick, straight one.
India’s innings was in complete disarray at 0 for three after the first over. It would have required immense courage and fortitude to return from that deep hole but a shell-shocked Indian side did not have any of it on the day.
To make matters worse, Ruturaj Gaikwad fell to Kyle Jamieson as India slipped to 9 for four. A brief period of stability followed as Ishan Kishan and Axar Patel, who was dropped on zero, added 44 runs for the fifth wicket before Matthew Fisher’s snorter ended the latter’s stay. Henry came back to castle Kishan, and it effectively was curtains for India’s chase at 61 for six.
Earlier, Young exploited India’s bowling and fielding frailties to score a hundred, but the tourists made a late comeback to restrict New Zealand to 333. Young and his opening partner Tim Seifert (58, 48 balls) gave an excellent start to the home team, adding 85 runs in 12 overs. Seifert was the lead act in this stand, bringing up his maiden ODI half-century in 41 balls.
India Lost 3 Wickets in First over
India became only the second team to lose their first three wickets without scoring a run in an ODI on Friday, with New Zealand pacer Matt Henry triggering the collapse by dismissing Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer in the opening over.
Henry’s feat of taking three or more wickets in the opening over of an ODI innings was also only the third such instance in the format.
South Africa’s Shaun Pollock had achieved the feat against Pakistan in Lahore in 1997, claiming three wickets, before Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas took four wickets in the opening over against Bangladesh during the 2003 World Cup in Pietermaritzburg. Henry thus joined the elite list with his triple strike against India.
Pollock picked up the wickets of Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, and Ijaz Ahmed in his opening over during the ODI against Pakistan, while Vaas dismissed Bangladesh’s Hannan Sarkar, Mohammad Ashraful and Ehsanul Haque with his first three balls of the opening over to complete a memorable hat-trick during their 2003 World Cup game. While Bangladesh were able to open the scoring in the opening over, India and Pakistan could not.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand 333 in 50 overs (Will Young 125, Tim Seifert 58; Axar Patel 2-39, Auqib Nabi 2-59) beat India 89 all out in 26.4 overs (Ishan Kishan 27, Naman Dhir 21; Matt Henry 6-27, Matthew Fisher 3-31) by 244 runs.
