NZ thrash India to take ODI series 4-0

Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson continued prolific summers with the bat while Matt Henry claimed four wickets on debut as New Zealand beat India by 87 runs to seal the One-Day International series 4-0.

Taylor scored his second century in consecutive innings and Williamson his fifth half-century of the series as New Zealand made 303-5 batting first.

Fifth ODI scorecard

New Zealand innings   M Guptill c Shami b Aaron 16 J Ryder c Rahane b Kumar 17 K Williamson c Rahane b Aaron 88 R Taylor c Dhawan b Shami 102 B McCullum c Sharma b Kohli 23 J Neesham not out 34 L Ronchi not out 11   Extras: (b 1, lb 6, w 5) 12  Total: (5 wickets; 50 overs) 303 Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-41, 3-193, 4-243, 5-274   India innings R Sharma c Taylor b Mills 4 S Dhawan c N McCullum b Henry 9 V Kohli c sub b N McCullum 82 A Rahane lbw b Henry 2 A Rayudu c Williamson b Henry 20 MS Dhoni c Neesham b Williamson 47 R Ashwin b Williamson 7 R Jadeja c Guptill b Mills 5 B Kumar c Ronchi b Henry 20 M Shami not out 14 V Aaron b Neesham 0   Extras: (lb 1, w 4, nb 1) 6  Total: (all out; 49.4 overs) 216  Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-20, 3-30, 4-78, 5-145, 6-167, 7-174, 8-181, 9-215, 10-216

Henry then took 4-38 in an impressive debut as India was all out for 216 in 49.4 overs.

The win continued seventh-ranked New Zealand’s complete dominance of top-ranked India in the series, the third match of which was tied. New Zealand won the first two matches by 24 runs and 15 runs and the last two more emphatically, by seven wickets and 87 runs.

New Zealand’s emphatic performance in the series owed a great deal to its consistency with the bat, and that in turn owed much to Taylor and Williamson.

Taylor followed his 112 not out in the fourth match on Tuesday with 102 on Friday, and also scored two half-centuries in five innings, totalling 343 runs in the series at an average of 85.75.

Williamson became only the second player, after Pakistan’s Yasir Hameed, to score half centuries in every innings of a five match series.

“It’s been a great series all round,” Taylor said. “The way we’ve batted and bowled has been very consistent. I think the way Williamson has gone about his business and set the platform for the whole team has been outstanding. Five 50s in a row is not an easy feat and he deserves a lot of credit.”

Henry’s performance on Friday was so impressive he has a strong chance of being called into the New Zealand Test squad if injuries occur during its forthcoming two-match series against India. He claimed the vital wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (9), Ajinkya Rahane (two) and Ambati Rayudu (20) as India crumbled to 30-3, then 78-4.

Mills also ramped up pressure on the India top order by bowling his first six overs at a cost of only eight runs, claiming the wicket of Rohit Sharma (four). He finished with 2-35 from 10 overs while Williamson, in an outstanding all-round performance, took 2-19.

India once again relied on Virat Kohli, restored to number 3 in the order after opening in the fourth match, and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to do the majority of its scoring. Dhoni had previously chosen to bowl on winning the toss for the fifth straight time.

Kohli made 82 as India’s top-scorer and Dhoni 47 but after its slow start, India fell hopelessly behind the needed run rate and its challenge was extinguished well before its innings ended.

“Throughout the series, I think the New Zealand team has played very good cricket,” Dhoni said. “Their new-ball bowling has been fantastic but where they’ve really taken the game away from us is the middle-overs batting. They start off slowly but they build partnerships and keep wickets in hand there so they know they can get 80 to 90 runs (in the last 10 overs).”