India Innings
Yusuf Pathan finally played a heroic knock at the international level which helped India to a thrilling 5-wicket win in the fourth ODI at Bengaluru. India created a new recorded by successfully chasing the highest ever target at this ground. It was an unbroken sixth wicket stand of 133 between Yusuf Pathan and Saurabh Tiwary that clinched the game for India which in turn took the series lead to 4-0.
India started off nicely in their chase with 67 on the board inside the 10 overs before the in-form Gautam Gambhir (21) cut McKay into the hands of backward point. There was a double blow from McKay when he had the other in-form batsman Virat Kohli top edging a pull shot to fine leg to get out for a duck. India from 68 for 2 were headed towards a repair job with Yuvraj Singh joining the impressive Parthiv Patel who was keeping the scoreboard moving. Yuvraj after pulling a six off Styris fell to the same shot off Nathan McCullum to depart in the 18th over after a 28-ball 20. Parthiv Patel joined him immediately back to the pavilion after lofting Nathan McCullum towards straight long off and to leave India at 108 for 4. Parthiv by then scored 53 from 57 balls with 8 fours which was his maiden ODI fifty.
With Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan in the middle, there were two batsmen who were yet to deliver the goods on a consistent basis at the international level. Both of them looked pretty at the crease and India consolidated once again until Rohit Sharma threw his wicket smacking a Southee slower one straight to deep mid off. Rohit had scored 44 from 48 balls with 4 fours and a six while putting up 80 runs with Pathan.
India got to 203 for 5 in 36 overs when rain halted proceedings for an hour almost. The hosts were 17 runs short at this stage according to the D/L method and luckily the match resumed and so did Yusuf's fireworks. Just after the rain break, Pathan clobbered Vettori for a six in the very first ball and that set the stage for his match winning partnership with Saurabh Tiwary. India collected 44 runs during the batting powerplay which finished by the 43rd over. Yusuf turned the heat on the Kiwis with few more lusty blows and at one stage, New Zealand's pacers - Mills and McKay lost their morale as they dished out some shocking deliveries. India eased to the victory after that and it was Saurabh Tiwary providing the winning blow with a six in the penultimate over. He stayed unbeaten on 37 from 39 balls with 3 fours and a six while Yusuf got the Man of the Match for his 123* in 96 balls. Yusuf's knock contained 7 fours and 7 sixes which included one that disappeared over the roof of the stadium above the mid wicket gallery.
New Zealand Innings
New Zealand finished at a high in the fourth ODI piling up 315 for 7 after being asked to bat first by Gautam Gambhir. James Franklin who scored his maiden fifty in the previous match came good once again with a sweetly struck 98 not out in just 69 balls. Franklin cracked 12 fours and 3 sixes to help New Zealand reach this huge score at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
The pitch has looked very good for batting with the ball nicely coming onto the bat and the batsmen have been able to hit the ball through the line. The outfield is also deadly quick but history says that no side has ever chased a target of 250 at this ground. New Zealand were off to a positive start putting up 62 runs in 8.4 overs before Martin Guptill (30 from 25 balls) smacked Nehra into the safe hands of Yuvraj at covers. India managed to come back in the game by taking two more wickets including that of a well set Brendon McCullum (42 from 42 balls with 8 fours and a six) to leave the Kiwis at 91 for 3 in the 14th over. While one drop batsman - Jamie How edged Nehra to slip, Brendon McCullum swept Ashwin into the hands of mid wicket.
New Zealand got going again through a promising partnership between Ross Taylor and Scott Styris which consolidated the innings. In the 30th over, Scott Styris got dismissed after a 48-ball 46 as he holed out at deep mid wicket. About eight overs later, Ross Taylor departed after a 73-ball 44 in the first ball of the batting powerplay as he got lbw to Ashwin. Vettori came in next and added 39 runs with Franklin before getting bowled by Pathan in an attempted pull shot. India had an opportunity of bowling out the Kiwis when Kyle Mills was dismissed by Pathan in the 45th over. But New Zealand managed to score 64 more runs thanks to Franklin's clean hitting. For India, Yusuf Pathan was the most impressive with 9-0-49-3.
- B.V.Swagath
