India experienced a historic batting collapse against New Zealand, losing three wickets without scoring a single run. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fell for ducks as the team faced a disastrous start reminiscent of the 2019 World Cup semifinal.
India Suffers Nightmarish Start Losing Three Wickets For Zero Runs
Mount Maunganui [New Zealand], November 13 (ANI): The Indian top order gave a nightmarish throwback to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal against New Zealand, as for the first time ever, the Men in Blue lost three wickets in an ODI match without any runs on the board. Stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli departed for ducks.
Chasing 334 runs, India had a nightmare start as Rohit was packed on the first ball, his second duck of the series. On the fifth ball of the first over, Virat was cleaned up by a perfect nip-backer from Henry while stand-in skipper Shreyas Iyer was dismissed leg-before-wicket to end the over. During the 2019 WC semifinal, for reference, Henry took two of three wickets, which left India struggling at 5/3 while chasing 241 at Manchester, with Rohit, KL Rahul and Virat dismissed for one run each. India lost the match by 18 runs and made a heartbreaking exit in the final four stage.
This is India's first time that they have lost three wickets in an ODI without putting runs on the board and only the fifth instance in ODI history, with Pakistan having done it twice, Bangladesh and Australia having done it once. This is the second time that both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli registered ducks in an ODI. The previous instance had come against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in 2010. This also marks the first time Rohit Sharma has been dismissed on the first ball of an innings, with Saurav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag holding this unfortunate record with three such dismissals each. Rohit and Virat already hold poor records against Matt Henry, with Rohit scoring just 57 off 71 balls against the pacer, dismissed thrice. He averages only 19 and strikes at 80.28. Virat has scored 59 in 60 balls against Henry, dismissed thrice and striking at 98.33 against him.
With the loss of Ruturaj Gaikwad for just five runs in 13 balls, India sank to 9/4. This is the second time that India have lost their first four wickets for under 10 runs in an ODI. They were reduced to an identical 9/4 in the famous 1983 World Cup game against Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells, where captain Kapil Dev produced a hard-hitting 175*, which took India to a total of 266/8, which proved to be match-winning. A fiery century from Will Young and a half-century from Tim Seifert were standouts as New Zealand posted 333 in their 50 overs in the fourth ODI against India at Bay Oval on Friday. After India put NZ to bat first, Young put on an 85-run stand with Seifert (58 in 48 balls, with six fours and three sixes). After a brief slump which saw the Kiwis reduce to 125/3, Young put on another 90-run stand with Finn Allen (41 in 30 balls, with five fours and two sixes). The right-hander roared back into form with a 108-ball 125, with 14 fours and four sixes. Mitchell Santner (24), Kristian Clarke (22) and Kyle Jamieson (19*) took NZ way past the 300-run mark, with the final score being 333. Axar Patel, Auqib Nabi and Gurnoor Brar bowled standout two-wicket spells. (ANI)
