Boult, Grandhomme swings India out for 92

HAMILTON: New Zealand's Trent Boult and Colin de Grandhomme wreaked havoc with the new ball to bundle out a hapless India for 92 in the fourth and penultimate ODI, their seventh lowest total in the 50-over format here on Thursday.

Bowling his 10 overs at a stretch, Boult troubled the Indian batsmen with his swing to return with impressive figures of 5 for 21.

Boult was ably supported by Grandhomme (3/26) as the duo made perfect use of the new ball and swung the ball both ways to make life miserable for Indian batsmen after New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson won the toss elected to bowl.


In the absence of Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian batting unit found the going tough against the Kiwi bowling attack and lost wickets regularly to slump to their seventh lowest ODI total.

India's lowest ODI total is 54 against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in 2000. It was also India's second lowest total in ODIs against New Zealand, having somehow managing to surpass the 88 scored at Dambulla.

It was not as if the pitch was unplayable, but Indian batsmen lacked application against the swing bowling of Boult and Grandhomme.

Only four Indian batsnmen -- Shikhar Dhawan (13), Hardik Pandya (16), Kuldeep Yadav (15) and Yuzvendra Chahal (18 not out) -- posted double digit scores.

Dhawan's search for big runs continued as he was the first to depart, caught plumb in front of the wicket by Boult in the sixth over.

Skipper Rohit Sharma, who is leading India in the last two matches of the series in the absence of Virat Kohli, didn't have a happy outing on his 200th ODI as he was caught by Boult of his own bowling an over later.

Grandhomme then joined the party and dismissed both Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Kartik for ducks in a span of four balls in the 11th over.

A lot was expected from debutant Shubman Gill (9) but pressure got the better of him as he got out in identical fashion like Rohit, caught by Boult off his own bowling.

Reeling at 33 for 5, India desperately needed the experience of Kohli or injured Dhoni to bail the team out but with the duo missing the onus fell on Pandya and Kedar Jadhav to do the repair job.

But it was not to be as wickets kept on tumbling with Boult ripping apart India's batting line-up, dismissing both Jadhav and Pandya in quick succession.

Struggling at 55 for 8, Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav shared 25 runs for the ninth wicket to take India close to the 100-run mark before being shot out in 30.5 overs.