Black Caps whitewashed

It was Parthivs assault of Mills that changed things. He started by ferociously cutting the first ball to fence. The fourth ball saw him drive through the covers. His senior partner Yuvraj Singh followed it up by pulling the last ball to the mid-wicket boundary. As 15 runs were scored from Mills first over,New Zealand were waving the white flag.

And as India recorded an 8-wicket win,New Zealands humiliation was complete. The visiting teams total of 103 was their lowest against the hosts and their collapse had a big role to play in the game lasting a total of 48.1 overs New Zealand scoring 103 from 27 and India overtaking them in 21.1 overs.

The wicket too had a role to play in this lop-sided contest. With the track on the slower side,the spinners had a field day. Of the 12 wickets that fell in the game,nine went to the slower bowlers. In the final analysis,it was Indias depth in the spin department and the ability of their batsmen to tweak their game on a turning track that proved decisive.

Spin trio

The Indian spin trio of R Ashwin,Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan turned the ball appreciably and gave no breathing space to the Kiwi batsmen. Unlike Indian skipper Gautam Gambhir,the Kiwi captain Daniel Vettori didnt have this luxury.

Gambhir,declared Man of the Series,fell to Nathan McCullums third ball of the innings while trying to cut too fine. Vettori stuck in the fourth over of the innings as he removed Virat Kohli,who paid the price for staying back. Ross Taylor took an easy catch in the slips.

But it was when Vettori turned to his pacers that the Indians broke the shackles. India crossed the line in 76 minutes with 173 balls to spare to record their most comfortable win in recent times. New Zealand will head back home without a win after playing here for over 35 days.

In contrast,India have had several positives from the series the biggest being Yuvraj Singhs return of form. Though he starting off in a streaky manner with an outside edge that ran to the third-man boundary,Yuvraj soon found his timing and finished with an unbeaten 42 off 46 balls. And since his batting effort had followed his fine show with the ball,he got the Man of the Match award.

Vettori admits captaincy may be on line

On the flight back to New Zealand,Daniel Vettori will surely be mulling over his sides recent performances,and be forced to come up with a solution to his teams losing streak 11 matches in a row now,just two short of equalling their worst run,between April 1994 and January 1995.

Before packing his bags and leaving after losing the last of the five-match ODI series,Vettori had to appear to explain another loss,this time at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. He managed a weak smile and a feeble wave,knowing well the inquisition at Christchurch by the bosses of New Zealand Cricket will be much harsher. And Vettori looked like rehearsing the lines he would use to NZC CEO Justin Vaughan,admitting his job could be on the line.

I think yeah,you have to think that way. There are people,decision makers above me who will investigate everything and if thats the right thing to do then thats the right thing to do. I still think I have led the team the best way I can,but I understand results,I understand the need for change if it is needed, Vettori said.

Not for the first time in this series,he spoke about keeping the faith. You keep trying. Life is about improving and thats what we need to do. We cant give up because NZ cricket is not going anywhere. And part of the solution will be to bring positive results to the team. ENS