New Zealand cricket team
New Zealand were domineering throughout, at an extent that Jasprit Bumrah looked clueless even with his awkward angles while Virat Kohli slumped to his first low in five years. And even stood well ahead of their Indian counterparts in all the departments. The openers got them off to a flier in all the three matches while India lost quick wickets at the top. The No.3 provided solidarity while Kohli struggled to manage only 75 runs in the series. The only thing that stood common for both was the middle-order lineup. While for New Zealand it was a medium of carrying the strong momentum provided by the top-order batters, for India, they had to heavily depend on KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer for the bulk of runs. And in the bowling, unlike for most of India's opponents, New Zealand pacers fared better while the likes of Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini struggled to pick wickets.
On Tuesday, the differences were largely visible. After Rahul's maiden century at No.5 and a century stand alongside Iyer, India managed 296 for 7. In reply, Henry Nicholls and Martin Guptill raced to a century opening stand in the absence of Thakur with the new ball and capitalising on Saini being off-colour at the Bay Oval. Yuzvendra Chahal kept India in the game with wickets of Guptill and Kane Williamson, but Nicholls marshalled along. India once against bounced back with quick dismissals of the opener and an in-form Ross Taylor, but calm and composed Colin de Grandhomme managed quick runs to get New Zealand past the target with 17 deliveries to spare.
1988/90 was the last time India were whitewashed in a bilateral series of three or more matches in the ODI format. It was a five-game series against West Indies. Five years earlier, West Indies won by a similar margin in India. (P.S - South Africa had defeated India by 4-0 in series in 2006 where one match was abandoned).
1981 was the last time when New Zealand had whitewashed India in ODIs. The Men in Blue had lost 2-0, 39 years back.
297 chased in Mount Maunganui is now the second-highest successful chase completed by New Zealand against India in ODIs. Their run chase of 348 in Hamilton last week was their highest ever.
112 by Rahul on Tuesday is his fourth ODI century and his first while batting at No.5 - also the first for India since MS Dhoni's 134 against England in Cuttack in 2017. He is also the second Indian player to score a hundred in New Zealand batting at 5 or below after Suresh Raina's 110* against Zimbabwe in Auckland in World Cup 2015.
2007 was the last time India witnessed a century stand by a No.4 and No.5 batsman in ODIs. Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni had stitched the partnership against Pakistan in 2007. Iyer and Rahul made 100 in 18.2 overs.
75 runs amassed by Kohli in the three-game series is his lowest run tally in a bilateral ODI series as a captain, lower than his 89 and 148 against West Indies and New Zealand in 2019 and 2018 respectively. After a half-century score in the opener, he scored 15 and 9 in the next two matches. Kohli has also extended his century-less innings to nine now. His highest is 11 - between his 41st and 42nd ton.
4 straight ODIs in which Bumrah has gone wicketless while the New Zealand series became the first bilateral contest where he hasn't picked any wicket.
