Yusuf Pathan’s fireworks make it 4-0 for India

Bengaluru, Dec 7: India found a new batting hero in Yusuf Pathan as they successfully chased down New Zealand’s score of 315/7 in the fourth ODI, of the five match series, being played at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium here in Bengaluru. Pathan’s knock of 123* helped India seal a 5-wicket win.

The home side began their chase in style with Parthiv Patel hammering the Kiwi attack to different parts of the Chinnaswamy stadium. However, the visitors came right back in the game by taking four wickets – Gautam Gambhir (27), Virat Kohli (0), Yuvraj Singh (20) and Patel (53 off 57) – in the space of ten overs to leave India facing an uphill task at 108/4 in 19.3 overs.

Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan then set the Indian innings back on course with an 80-run partnership that came off just 13.5 overs. Sharma eventually perished for 44, with the score at 188 and at his dismissal Saurabh Tiwary came out to join Pathan in the middle.

With the score at 203/5 and India requiring another 113 runs from 14 overs to win, the match was interrupted, for close to an hour, by a sudden downpour of rain. However, after play resumed, Pathan upped the tempo. The first delivery bowled to him after the interruption, by Daniel Vettori, was hit by six over long on and a few overs later he hit Kyle Mills for an even bigger six outside the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Mills came in for still heavier punishment as Pathan took 21 runs off his tenth over, the 43rd of the Indian innings. And with a flat six over mid-wicket, off the first Andy McKay delivery of the 44th over, Pathan reached his maiden ODI century in just 79 deliveries. After that blitzkrieg from Pathan, and a 93-ball 133-run partnership with Tiwary, an Indian win was never in doubt and the hosts won by 5 wickets and with 7 deliveries to spare. Tiwary, too, remained not out, with an unbeaten score of 37.

Earlier, Gautam Gambhir won the toss yet again and opted to bowl first. India made four changes to their squad with Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Saurabh Tiwary coming in for Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Munaf Patel and Wriddhiman Saha. Jamie How and Tim Southee replaced Kane Williamson and Gareth Hopkins in the New Zealand lineup.

The Kiwis had their best start to the ODI series when Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum put on 62 runs for the first wicket in less than nine overs. But then Ashish Nehra struck twice in consecutive overs, to remove Guptill (30) and Jamie How (4), and when R Ashwin had McCullum (42) caught by Rohit Sharma, with the score at 91, the hosts looked to be in complete control of the game.

However, a 79-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Ross Taylor and Scott Styris set the game up for New Zealand. Both batsmen fell a few runs short of their respective half centuries (Styris 46 and Taylor 44) , but having scored their runs at a brisk pace, New Zealand were able to cross the 200-run mark within the 36th over of their innings.

A few wickets late in the innings did slow the Kiwis down, but with an unbeaten 69–ball knock of 98, James Franklin, continuing with his rich form from the previous game, helped the Kiwis post a total of 315/7. His innings included 12 fours and 3 sixes and he even hit Ashish Nehra for 22 runs of the 50th over of the Kiwi innings.

Brief Scores: India 321/5 in 48.5 overs (Yusuf Pathan 123*, Parthiv Patel 53, Nate McCullum 2-38) beat New Zealand 315/7 (James Franklin 98*, Scott Styris 46, Yusuf Pathan 3-49) by 5 wickets

Man-of-the-Match: Yusuf Pathan for his match winning all round performance that saw him score 123* (7X4, 7X6) and post bowling figures of 3-49.