Mount Maunganui, Nov 15: Pacers Mohammad Siraj and Arshdeep Singh damaged New Zealand top-order with a disciplined spell as India recovered from an insipid batting effort to register a series-clinching 22-run win in the fifth and final ODI here on Sunday.
The Shreyas Iyer-led side bagged the series 3-1 to successfully complete the white ball leg of the tour to New Zealand after pocketing the preceding T20I series 3-2. The defeat brought an end to New Zealand’s streak of 11 consecutive series wins on home soil.
It will also give Shreyas some breather after his failures with the bat across the white ball series, as he managed just one fifty across nine innings here.
The target was a middling one — 210 — but New Zealand made heavy weather of the chase, partly due to Indian pacers’ superb lines and partly due to their own suspicious minds.
Arshdeep (3/30) and Siraj (2/50) were in top form as New Zealand were bowled out for 187 in response to India’s 209 all out.
The ball did a little more under the lights than in the first innings, and there was inherent bounce on the track as well.
But that did not justify the cagey approach of the usually free-flowing Kiwis openers Tim Seifert and Will Young.
Seifert was denied room, and his attempt to force the pace in Power Play off Siraj resulted in a simple catch for debutant Yash Thakur.
Young’s struggles came to an end when Arshdeep’s back of the length delivery forced an awkward pull from him. Ruturaj Gaikwad did not make any mistake in the field.
From that point, the Kiwis batters struggled to stitch a single, match-defining partnership. Soon, Arshdeep added the scalp of Nick Kelly and Siraj ousted the dangerous Finn Allen with a peach that came back a wee bit to hit the top of off stump.
The home team was 83 for four in the 22nd over. It could have been even worse for the hosts but Indians gave lives to both Dean Foxcroft and Michael Bracewell, who made 38 runs for the fifth wicket.
But India pegged New Zealand back with the wickets of Bracewell and Foxcroft in the space of two overs, reducing them to 119 for six in the 32nd over.
Skipper Mitchell Santner and Kristian Clarke kept the Antipodeans afloat with a 39-run stand for the seventh wicket, the biggest in this innings.
Santner clobbered spinners Axar Patel and Naman Dhir for a six each. But Dhir had the last laugh, dismissing Santner, whose slog sweep found Arshdeep in the deep.
It was an uphill climb for NZ from there.
Earlier, India’s batting too offered a similar tale of trepidation and the resultant anxious shot selection.
The tourists were expected to give a better account of themselves after getting bowled out for 89 in the fourth ODI at this venue a couple of days ago.
A fruitful opening stand was a non-negotiable for it but Matthew Fisher dashed those hopes, getting rid of Rohit Sharma early.
Rohit’s lean run in this series continued as his half-hearted chip off Fisher ended in the hands of Foxcroft at short mid-wicket.
Virat Kohli too departed soon but was a tad unlucky to see his cut off a wide delivery from Fisher getting nabbed by a diving stumper Seifert.
Gaikwad too did not last long. Gaikwad tried to drive Jacob Duffy but the ball seamed back to take an inner edge en route to Seifert’s big gloves.
India slipped to 34 for three and it could have been 34 for four had Foxcroft at covers managed to keep his fingers around the ball after Axar uppishly drove Duffy, but was fortunate to see Foxcroft fumbling with the opportunity.
Shreyas and Axar (46) added 52 runs for the fourth wicket stand as India staged a mini recovery.
But Blair Tickner snapped the partnership as Shreyas perished to a short-pitched ball yet again.
Bracewell ended the resistance of Axar soon as the left-hander pulled the off-spinner straight into the hands of Young inside the circle.
Ishan Kishan (46), who slammed Duffy for two sixes in an over, and Dhir (22) tried to revive the Indian innings with a 39-run association for the sixth wicket but Kiwis skipper Santner (3/47) intervened at this juncture.
The seasoned left-arm spinner jettisoned Dhir as the hosts opened the door to India’s lower-order batters.
Kishan eventually fell to Duffy in his effort to accelerate the scoring.
India were in grave danger of missing the 200-run mark but some beefy blows by Arshdeep Singh and Siraj helped India go past that score. (PTI)
