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New Zealand handed India a crushing 244-run defeat in the fourth ODI at Mount Maunganui, bowling the visitors out for just 89 while defending a target of 334.
Matt Henry spearheaded the hosts' dominant performance with a sensational six-wicket haul, including three dismissals in the opening over, to trigger India's batting collapse. Reflecting on the defeat, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer credited Henry's exceptional bowling and acknowledged the difference in batting conditions between the two innings. "We saw it; there was a huge difference in the first innings and the second innings in terms of wickets, but also credit where it's due, the way Henry bowled in the right areas right from ball one. I think that was sensational," Iyer said after the match. Will Youngs fluent century (125 off 108 balls) and Matt Henry's career-best ODI figures (6/27) set the tone, while crucial knocks from Tim Seifert (58 off 48 balls) and Finn Allen (41 off 30 balls) guided the hosts to a massive total of 333. Iyer said India tried various bowling strategies, but New Zealand's aggressive batting made it difficult to find the right approach. He admitted that dropped catches hurt India, while also praising New Zealand's disciplined bowling, noting that India's batters were dismissed by good deliveries rather than throwing their wickets away. "I think we tried almost everything in the first innings, the way they were playing on the rise. And we thought that the wicket was better to bat on, considering they got 330 after that. Obviously, a couple of dropped catches, but that definitely happens in a game. But yeah, when we got into the dressing room, we thought that we would be cruising through the chase as well. But the way the ball was seaming in and out, you couldn't basically decide from inside that this is how I'm going to play. Or even if you saw the wickets, no one threw the wicket away. It was good deliveries," Henry added. It proved to be a decisive result as the hosts trimmed India's series lead to 2-1 heading into the final fixture on Sunday. Iyer also stressed the need to move on from the heavy defeat, analyse the shortcomings in both batting and bowling, and take confidence from India's two earlier victories. He called for a fresh mindset heading into the final match of the series. "It's important to forget about this one, obviously, and analyse what went wrong in terms of bowling and batting. But at the back of the mind it's important that we have also won two games. So a lot of inspiration from that one and see to it that we come with a fresh set of mind," he concluded. (ANI)
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