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ANI
New Delhi
Meanwhile, India lost the toss and batted first in the fourth match. Top-
order batsman Shubman Gill was handed his debut cap in the match by
MS Dhoni.
Having already pocketed the series 3-0, India have included two
newcomers in the team- Gill and Khaleel Ahmed- with the aim of testing
the bench strength.
“Gill is a very promising talent. He has shown a lot of promise in the past.
We are looking to bat first as well. We wanted to get some bases covered
before the next series. 3-0 is a great achievement. And we want to finish
off really well,” Sharma said after the toss.
The acting skipper’s 200th ODI turned out to be a nightmare as Kiwi pacer
Trent Boult ran riot to finish with figures of 5/21 from his 10 overs,
including 4 maiden overs. None of the top-order batsmen could make it
count as the Indians registered the unwanted record of lowest contribution
by the top six Indian batsmen in an away ODI.
The Indian top six could manage only 35 runs to create the unwanted
record as the earlier record stood at 39 when the top six Indian batsmen
were put on the backfoot by the English bowlers at the Oval in 1982. On
Thursday, it was the perfect toss to win for Kane Williamson in conditions
which suited swing bowling and Boult reposed the faith shown by his
captain as he derailed the Indians innings.
Ambati Rayudu’s poor run continued as he failed to bother the scorers. His
4-ball duck was followed by senior batsman Dinesh Karthik’s three-ball
duck. With regular keeper and former captain MS Dhoni rested for the
game, the onus was on Karthik to make it count, but he failed to grab that
opportunity.
Kedar Jadhav too failed to take the chance of spending quality time in the
middle as Boult trapped him right in front for just 1. While the diminutive
batsman did take the DRS, but that was more a formality than anything
else as he was the last recognized batsman.