Published: Feb 03, 2019, 05:50 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 03, 2019, 05:48 PM (IST)
While Rohit Sharma, the batsman, failed to score big, the decision to elect to bat from Rohit, the captain, to test the batsmen did wonders as the middle-order of Ambati Rayudu (90), Vijay Shankar (45), Kedar Jadhav (34) and Hardik Pandya (45) did a remarkable job to set up India’s win after they were reduced to 18/4 in the fifth and final ODI of the series against New Zealand in Wellington on Sunday. (ALSO READ: Ambati Rayudu, Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni headline victory)
With this result, India managed to win their final ODI outside Asia before the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, which is scheduled to kick off in May in England. India had already bagged the series with two games to spare. (ALSO READ: Rohit Sharma lauds Rayudu, Shankar for bailing out Team India)
However, New Zealand, as Rohit said at the toss, “humiliated” India, in Virat Kohli’s absence, in the fourth game as the team was bundled out for 92. India, despite the initial jitters, managed to beat the Kane Williamson-led unit by 35 runs to seal the ODI series 4-1. (READ MORE: Umpires in focus after dramatic 49th over involving Pandya and New Zealanders)
Here are some stats from the series:
0: Across the five-match ODI series, no hundreds were scored. Ross Taylor’s 93 was the highest score (in an innings) across the five matches.
2: This series win was India’s second bilateral ODI series win on the New Zealand soil and first since 2009.
3: India became the second Asian and overall the third side to win four (or more) matches in a bilateral ODI series against New Zealand in New Zealand. Australia had beaten New Zealand twice in a bilateral series in New Zealand (4-1 in 1999/00 and 5-0 in 2004-05) and Sri Lanka had won four matches of a bilateral series and won the series 4-1 in 2000-01.
3: While India did not win the ODI series in England (on the recent tour), India have managed to win the ODI series in South Africa (5-1), Australia (2-1) and now in New Zealand (4-1) during their recent tours to SENA nations and during the bilateral series.
12: Trent Boult ended the series as the leading wicket-taker with 12 wickets against his name, including the only five-wicket haul (5/21) of the series.
18: In course of winning the ODI series in New Zealand, India went past Pakistan (17), Sri Lanka (16) and South Africa (16) in terms of ODI wins in New Zealand. The list of maximum wins for a foreign team on the New Zealand soil is led by Australia with 34 wins. England have won 19 ODIs in New Zealand.
190: Rayudu, who won the Man of the Match award for his 90-run innings in the final ODI, scored 190 runs across 5 ODIs to emerge as the highest run-getter in the series.
335: With his appearance in the final ODI of the series after missing out the third and fourth ODI of the series, MS Dhoni (335) surpassed Mohammad Azharuddin (334) in terms of appearances for the Indian team. Overall, Dhoni has played 338 ODIs, representing Asia XI in three games.
