Acting skipper Rohit Sharma will not forget his 200th ODI in India colours for a long time. It was after all one of India’s worst performances as they lost to New Zealand by 8 wickets. More than the loss, it was the manner in which the Kiwis bundled India out for a paltry 92 that has once again raised questions over the form of the Indian middle-order. Not tested often due to the form of the top-orders, the likes of Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik and Kedar Jadhav failed to rise to the challenge at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.

“One of our worst performances with the bat for a long time. Something we didn’t expect. You got to give credit to the NZ bowlers. It was a magnificent effort. Something to learn for us,” Rohit said after the game.

Rohit said that the batsmen needed to blame themselves after the lackluster show. “At times, you need to apply pressure. We need to blame ourselves for it. Thing were looking good at that stage. It was about applying ourselves. Once you get in, things will start to look easier. We played some bad shots as well. It’s always challenging when the ball is swinging. Having a good run in the limited formats for a number of series,” he said.

The skipper was quick to point at the need of the batsmen to adapt to conditions when the ball will swing and the batsmen won’t find the going easy. “Everyone knows what went wrong. There will be times when it swings and we need to deal with it. When you are playing for your country, you try to give your best. We need to keep ticking the boxes,” he said.

The Indian top six could manage only 35 runs. While Rohit’s poor show in milestone matches continued, dismissed for just 7, Shikhar Dhawan too failed to convert what looked like a good start. Starting with a six and a boundary, Dhawan was trapped plumb in front by Boult for a 20-ball 13. Debutant Shubman Gill too showed signs of flair as he hit a beautiful cover drive, but it wasn’t to be a dream debut as Bolt got one to stop just a tad bit on the batsman and then happily grabbed the return catch.

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.

First Published: Jan 31, 2019 11:25 IST