Yuvraj Singh
The 5th and final ODI between India and New Zealand ended with the complete and utter humiliation of the Kiwis, India won the series 5-0.
One would have thought that after getting a drubbing first from Bangladesh they would have some plan of action, But no, same old same old.
They looked absolutely destroyed when they came out to bat, which is never a good sign, not only did they look like they wouldn’t even put up a fight but ultimately also gave India the perfect record.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first, that didn’t work out so well since they lost a wicket in the 2nd delivery of the day and kept losing wickets at more than regular intervals. The initial break through was Praveen Kumar’s and all the other bowlers chipped in well; Ashish Nehra took 2 wickets as did Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan, but the one who seems to have done maximum damage was Ravichandran Ashwin who took 3 wickets in 24runs.
There is no reason for this to make India over confident, though Indian youngsters have stepped in and have proved themselves in every possible manner, but New Zealand has just plain and simply given up, this match today showed that they need some serious changes, either in their mind set or in the team composition itself, since the scorecard was depressing for any cricket fan to see irrespective of what country they belong, with 7 players getting out on single digits and 3 of which got out on 0 it seemed like a match lost before it even began. The highest individual score on the Kiwi side was Scott Styris’s 24; this deserves no comment at all.
New Zealand made the lowest total ever against India, 103 all out in 27 over’s. Gautam Gambhir opened and gave everyone a mini heart attack by getting out on 0, though in his defence he probably got one too since the umpire Richard Kettleborough from England looked as confused as Saurav Ganguly while captaining the Kolkata Knightriders, he first said no and then when Nathan McCullum yelled at him, he decided to give Gambhir the finger.
Virat Kohli looked uncomfortable with the bowling, which probably came as a nasty shock for all of us watching the match since we thought it would be over by the time we took a piss. He got out making only 2 and faced 10 deliveries, Daniel Vettori at this point gave New Zealand a faint silver lining, but with Parthiv Patel and Yuvraj Singh still at the crease, the silver lining went *poof*. Pathiv Patel made 56 and Yuvraj Singh 42, though both looked a tad bit shaky initially, they also looked determined, thereby paving the path to India’s victory making 104 in only 21 over’s.
The Kiwi’s spinners didn’t do any justice to the dry pitch like the Indian spinners did; this will obviously be a matter of great concern considering the ICC World Cup 2011 will be with similar pitches and spinners will always be a critical element that can make the difference between winning and losing.
The phrase White Wash is being thrown around almost like M. S. Dhoni in ad campaigns, but if there was ever a time where it was justified to be used it is now. New Zealand will have nightmares about this series (and the previous one) for days, if they don’t, well then they should. If they don’t start doing some serious soul searching then they’re probably heading for another thrashing by Pakistan, which will be even worse, more like a slap in the face, since the next series will be in New Zealand itself.
Tags: Cricket, Gautam Gambhir, India, Indian Sports, New Zealand, ODI Cricket, ODI Series, Sports, Sports India, Yuvraj Singh
