New Zealand avenged the continuous defeats in the series by turning India down by 8 wickets in the fifth and final ODI in Auckland on Saturday. New Zealand successfully chased the target with 8 wickets and 118 balls remaining as the visitors scraped to put together 149 runs for target.

New Zealand avoided the whitewash but lost the series by 3-1 to India. Virender Sehwag played a substantial role in India’s first ever ODI series victory in New Zealand, being the highest run-getter for his side.

 The Kiwis managed to reclaim some honor as they reached the measly target as Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor played at 57 and 28 not out with nearly 20 overs to spare. Guptill scored his third ODI half-ton which included two sixes and seven fours. India saw successes far and between which turned out inconsequential as a two-wicket loss couldn’t deter New Zealand from reaching the target. Praveen Kumar dismissed Brendon McCullum (2) in the third over and reduced New Zealand to 9/1. Ryder hit a smashing 49-ball 63 with four sixes and six fours that put the Kiwis straight.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, India lost the top order cheaply. Sehwag scored 40 and the top-scorer Rohit Sharma made 43 which fell insufficient to take India to a decent total as the remaining batsmen didn’t even cross double digits except Yuvraj Singh (11). India lost the first wicket in Gautam Gambhir (5) at 30-1. Oram dismissed Raina (8) at 65-2 and even though the innings looked stabilized for a while with Sehwag and then Sharma batting, New Zealand managed to claim the entire middle order within twenty runs.

After the middle order was devastated as India looked abysmal at 111-6, the Kiwis hardly made much effort to bundle the innings. Jesse Ryder took 3 wickets as Jacob Oram and Iain O’Brien bagged two wickets each to bring the Indian batting to knees.

Earlier, rain interrupted the match and reduced it to a 43-over game. JD Ryder was awarded the Man of the Match prize for his all-rounded performance.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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