Mount Maunganui: “Not again… we just settled,” said a group of fans on the grass banks enjoying the afternoon sun before another set exclaimed, “even the fizz of the beer is still alive”. There was collective exasperation when Rohit Sharma dragged himself back to the changing room after another poor outing in New Zealand. For the repeat spectators at the Bay Oval, this must have been deja vu; they had seen the former captain dismissed early within three days.For over a decade, Indian cricket has witnessed a trend: the first wicket brings out a cheer with Virat Kohli’s arrival raising expectations and excitement. But in this five-match ODI series, even those cheers have been short-lived, and the feeling quickly turned into disappointment. And then embarrassment.It’s been the story of the ODI leg of the tour. Batting techniques have been exposed, shot selections questioned, and players haven’t remained in the middle long enough.The build-up to the series was dominated by the inexperienced bowling attack, but as curtains drew on the five-ODI affair, it has shifted to how the famed India line-up staged a meek surrender. The conditions were testing, the weather unpredictable, and the opposition attack hostile. But it was worrying to see how the batting folded.For the first time since 1985, no India batter managed a series haul of 100 runs in a five-ODI series. Virat Kohli’s 86 tops the charts and 74 of those runs came in the series opener in Auckland. That knock was also the only fifty-plus score by an Indian batter in the four ODIs they played. Not just Rohit and Kohli, even Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel struggled to get going. Shubman Gill also scored 37 runs (in 2 innings) before shifting focus to the Test series preparations in Wellington.The underlying theme for the series has largely remained that these conditions are the closest to what one could expect in South Africa for the World Cup. The performances give little confidence and head coach Gautam Gambhir‘s assessment after the fourth ODI hinted that the alarm bells are ringing.“You are always concerned when you get bundled out for 90-odd. Why won’t I be concerned?” Gambhir had said during the post-match press conference. “I think I will be concerned because obviously these are conditions which are going to be closest to what we might get during the World Cup.
India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot during a one day international cricket between New Zealand and India, in Tauranga, New Zealand. AP/PTI(AP11_15_2026_000096A)
“When you play in India, obviously you all know that there is hardly anything for the bowlers, but when you come in these conditions, you know that there is actually a good contest between bat and ball, so this is probably the closest, so obviously I would be concerned because not only in this game, but even in the previous game, we were 7 down for 111-112, so for me I think the bigger concern is not the runs, it’s how quickly we got bundled out – I think in around 26 or 27 overs, so hopefully we can try and rectify that as soon as possible.“Gambhir’s hopes for a turnaround in the final fixture went up in smoke as a similar script unfolded at the Bay Oval, even while batting first with the sun out in its full glory. More than the pitch playing its tricks or the bowlers being unplayable, the issue was the circumspect approach and questionable shot selections. Rohit went early into the flick, Kohli played a rash shot, Ruturaj Gaikwad looked good but perished driving, and Shreyas Iyer departed to a short ball again.
India’s captain Shreyas Iyer plays a shot during a one day international cricket between New Zealand and India, in Tauranga, New Zealand. AP/PTI
It has been a collective batting failure, and even if the series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe sees them back amongst the runs, the frailties away from home will need serious introspection. For starters, the team management must press for lively pitches in the six ODIs preceding the IPL, as flat tracks serve no purpose other than inflating averages and giving a false sense of optimism.“Kya hi hoga inka World Cup mai? (what will happen to them during the World Cup?)… inko highway pe hi khilao (make them play on flat pitches only),” was the mood in the lawns behind the stadium. The Indian fans, who had gathered in large numbers, didn’t have good memories to take home but offered a collective warning to avoid awakening ghosts of the away past.Brief Scores: India 209 in 42.1 overs (Axar Patel 46, Ishan Kishan 46; Mitchell Santner 3/47, Jacob Duffy 3/60) beat New Zealand 187 in 48.1 overs (Dean Foxcroft 31; Arshdeep Singh 3/30) by 22 runs.
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