2019 WC flashbacks: Indian top-order achieves unfortunate first in 4th ODI against New Zealand

Detailed summary

Chasing 334 runs, India had a nightmare start as Rohit was packed on the first ball, his second duck of the series. On the fifth ball of the first over, Virat was cleaned up by a perfect nip-backer from Henry while stand-in skipper Shreyas Iyer was dismissed leg-before-wicket to end the over.

Mount Maunganui [New Zealand], November 13 (ANI): The Indian top order gave a nightmarish throwback to the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal against New Zealand, as for the first time ever, the Men in Blue lost three wickets in an ODI match without any runs on the board. Stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli departed for ducks. Chasing 334 runs, India had a nightmare start as Rohit was packed on the first ball, his second duck of the series. On the fifth ball of the first over, Virat was cleaned up by a perfect nip-backer from Henry while stand-in skipper Shreyas Iyer was dismissed leg-before-wicket to end the over.

This also marks the first time Rohit Sharma has been dismissed on the first ball of an innings, with Saurav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag holding this unfortunate record with three such dismissals each. Rohit and Virat already hold poor records against Matt Henry, with Rohit scoring just 57 off 71 balls against the pacer, dismissed thrice. He averages only 19 and strikes at 80.28. Virat has scored 59 in 60 balls against Henry, dismissed thrice and striking at 98.33 against him. With the loss of Ruturaj Gaikwad for just five runs in 13 balls, India sank to 9/4. This is the second time that India have lost their first four wickets for under 10 runs in an ODI.

Opening of the article, excerpted from ANI (Asian News International). To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.