India’s cricketers today ended a disastrous tour of New Zealand easily losing the seventh and final one-dayer after another insipid batting display which would have further dented their confidence prior to the World Cup. Put in to bat first on a seamer-friendly wicket, the Indians struggled to reach the three-figure mark to be all out for 122, failing again to last their quota of 50 overs. New Zealanders achieved their target after initial hiccups to win the match by six wickets and the series 5-2. SCOREBOARD India: S Ganguly b Adams 15; V Sehwag c McCullum b Mills 4; S Tendulkar c Fleming b Tuffey 1; D Mongia c Fleming b Tuffey 0; R Dravid c Styris b Mills 12; Yuvraj Singh c Vincent b Styris 33; M kaif c McCullum b Adams 0; A Kumble c Fleming b Adams 21; Zaheer Khan c McCullum b Styris 5; J Srinath lbw Adams 15; A Nehra not out 2; Extras (lb-5, w-6, nb-3): 14 Total (All out, 44.5 overs): 122 Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-17, 3-17, 4-44, 5-44, 6-44, 7-93, 8-98, 9-117. Bowling: Tuffey 10-1-26-2, Mills 10-1-29-2, Adams 8.5-3-21-4, Styris 10-3-23-2, Vettori 6-0-18-0. New Zealand: S Fleming not out 60; M Sinclair b Srinath 3; B McCullum lbw Zaheer Khan 4; C Cairns b Srinath 11; S Styris b Kumble 29; L Vincent not out 5; Extras (lb-6, w-6, nb-1): 13 Total (For 4 wkts, 28.4 overs): 125 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-12, 3-32, 4-116. Bowling: Srinath 8.4-2-28-2, Zaheer Khan 9-2-38-1, Nehra 5-0-28-0, Kumble 4-0-16-1, Ganguly 2-0-9-0 After registering their lone victories of the tour in the last two matches while chasing the target, it was back to square one for the Indians with the batsmen floundering once again when asked to bat first on a wicket that belied expectations and offered generous support to the seamers. The top six batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 44 runs on the board and it required gutsy performances from Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble to carry the team past the three-figure mark. Yuvraj top-scored with 33 while Kumble made 21, putting on a 49-run partnership for the seventh wicket that saved the tourists some blushes in an otherwise disappointing outing. New Zealand, too, lost a few early wickets and were 32 for three at one stage, but captain Stephen Fleming struck timely form to guide his side to the target in just 28.4 overs. Fleming remained unbeaten on an attractive 60. This was India’s seventh defeat in nine matches, including the two Tests, on the tour, in probably the worst preparation for next month’s World Cup in South Africa. Javagal Srinath, who has been outstanding in the one-day series claiming 18 wickets from seven matches, claimed two scalps today but let go the opportunity of completing 300 wickets in one-day internationals. He dropped an easy return catch from Scott Styris which would have made him only the fifth bowler in history to join the 300-club. As has been the trend on this tour, the Indian batting problems started early with the first three wickets dismissed for just 17 runs. (PTI)
