India complete clean sweep against appalling New Zealand
It is amazing how sometimes one innings of brilliance can be countered by another of utmost quality, and how one man’s stellar effort can easily deflate a whole team. In modern-day cricket though, especially in the limited-overs format of the game, such
innings are becoming more and more frequent. In a recent series Abdul Razzaq’s hugely effective match-winning century for Pakistan against South Africa was such an effort, and lately the swashbuckling Yousuf Pathan of India played an inning of a similar explosive
nature for the Indian team to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the 4th One Day International against New Zealand.
Pathan played that inning to guide India to a 4th straight win in the series, and that after New Zealand had scored a mammoth 315, a score that must be intimidating to chase even in the largely batting friendly Indian conditions, and then after
India had slumped to 188 for 5 at one point. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750’s victory meant that New Zealand were yet to get even a consolation win in the series, consolation since they had already lost the series 3-0 prior to the 4th One Day International, and so had only
their pride to play for in the 5th game. India on the other hand, must have been looking for a clean-sweep that would bolster their fine reputation in the world of cricket, a reputation that is progressing by leaps and bounds it must be said.
The start for the Kiwis, who were batting first, had a start that was far from auspicious, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Praveen-Kumar-c82600 removed opener martin Guptill on just the 4th ball of the match. On the other end, his new ball partner left-armer Ashish Nehra came in
for some stick at the hands of the aggressive Brendon McCullum, before getting the last laugh as he removed the Kiwi wicketkeeper in the 4th over for only 16.
Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashish-Nehra-c46293, leaving his team in further trouble at 28 for 3. Jamie How and Scott Styris then stepped in to stop the rot, for a while at
least, the two played some good shots in their slow-moving partnership of 43, before their time together was ended by Yuvraj Singh who dismissed How for 23. New Zealand slid even deeper into the abyss as Scott Styris too got out soon after How, falling lbw
to Ashwin.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Grant-c60671 Elliott became Yuvraj Singh’s second wicket as he got out without scoring,with New Zealand’s score having advanced just one run since Styris’ ouster. After that it was only a matter of time before the New Zealand innings folded, since the middle order
and lower order looked all at sea against India’s spinners. Only James Franklin, New Zealand’s standout performer from the last game, could get into double figures, while the rest of the team was quickly sent back to the pavilion. The eventual total New Zealand
managed was a meager 103, a total which they would struggle to defend even in the bowling friendly conditions back home, let alone in India’s batting paradises. The Indian spinners were the chief destroyers of the Kiwi batting unit, as Ashwin took 3 wickets
while Yuvraj Singh and Yousuf Pathan ended up with 2 a piece.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Parthiv-Patel-c2159 on 56 as the two effortlessly guided India to an easy 8-wicket
victory on a pitch that did not contain any demons despite New Zealand’s terrific crash.
The 5-0 clean sweep must have left the Kiwis with a lot of thinking to do before their series against an on-the-up http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 side starts. While the victory in the One Day series serves to be a big confidence boost for the Indians before their tough tour to
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and the all important World Cup.
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