Twitter Reactions: Kohli-less India go down meekly in Hamilton

Team India never arrived at the Seddon Park in Hamilton for the fourth ODI. Probably, the complacency got to them after winning the series. Shubman Gill was given a debut and MS Dhoni also didn’t return as they decided to give the veteran a little more rest. But with no experience, the batting line-up was found wanting in demanding conditions and with Trent Boult spitting venom with every delivery, the visitors couldn’t handle the heat.

After opting to bowl first, New Zealand took almost six overs to strike. The duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan started off cautiously early on but Boult’s vicious inswinger caught the latter plumb in front of the stumps. The procession started then as the skipper Rohit Sharma smashed straight one back to the bowler next. The wickets of Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik would be hurting though.

Both of them played nothing shots off Colin de Grandhomme to gift their wickets away and leave the team reeling. Gill, on debut, scored only nine runs off 21 balls and got out like his captain to Boult. Kedar Jadhav was at the receiving end of another brilliant inswinger from Boult while De Grandhomme’s nipping in delivery was too good for Bhuvneshwar Kumar which left India struggling at 40/7.

Their lowest total of 54 in the ODIs was in danger but Hardik Pandya hit some lusty blows to take them ahead of that score. However, the all-rounder lacked game awareness and threw his wicket in the Boult’s last over as the left-arm pacer ended with the figures of 5/21. Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal added 35 runs together as India were bundled out for 92 runs in the 31st over.

NZ finish it in a hurry

The target was never going to be challenging for the home side even in the wildest of their dreams. Martin Guptill started in the same way. He scored 14 off just three deliveries by playing his shots and just like that, was dismissed off the very next ball. Kane Williamson‘s poor series continued as well. Both the wickets were taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

But the new opener Henry Nicholls and Ross Taylor didn’t let the game drag much and sealed the chase in the 15th over itself. Taylor played attacking strokes against Chahal and finished unbeaten on 37 off just 25 balls while Nicholls looked good during his 42-ball-30 in the middle.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the game:

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