4th ODI : India beat New Zealand by 5 Wickets

Bangalore : Riding on Yusuf Pathan’s unbeaten century India defeated New Zeland by five wickets in the fourth One-day International at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here Tuesday.

Put into bat first, New Zealand made 315 for seven in 50 overs. Pathan hit an unbeaten 123 as India made 321 for five in 48.5 overs. India have taken a 4-0 lead in the five match series.

Yusuf Pathan smashed an unbeaten century as India defeated New Zealand by five wickets in the rain affected fourth One-day International and took a 4-0 lead in the series here on Tuesday.

Pathan remained unbeaten on 123 from 96 balls as India made 321 for five in 48.5 overs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

Put into bat first, James Franklin stuck an unbeaten 98 from 69 deliveries that helped New Zealand reach a commanding 315 for seven in 50 overs.

Franklin, who scored 70 in Vadodara, hit 12 boundaries and three huge sixes during his 88-minute stay at the wicket. The southpaw hit couple of sixes and boundaries each as 22 runs were scored off Ashish Nehra?s over, which was the 50th of the innings.

Franklin?s swashbuckling innings helped the visitors get 63 runs in the last five overs as they crossed the 300-run mark.

Openers Martin Guptill (30, 25 balls, 5×4) and Brendon McCullum (42, 42 balls, 8×4, 1×6) gave New Zealand a good start as they went after both Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar. McCullum who looked set for a big score was sent back by R Ashwin when his mistimed aerial shot was smartly taken by Rohit Sharma standing at mid-wicket.

The score was 91 for three at that stage. Then a 78-run fourth-wicket partnership between Ross Taylor (44, 73 balls, 3×4) and Scott Styris (46, 48 balls, 3×4, 1×6) bailed out the Kiwis.

Pathan (three for 49) turned out to be the most successful bowler as he made good use of the Bowling Powerplay and was able to breach through the defences of rival skipper Daniel Vettri (17) and Kyle Mills (1). Ashwin in the meantime got his second wicket when he trapped Taylor leg-before.

Parthiv Patel (53), coming back in the side after six years, gave India a good start along with skipper Gautam Gambhir (27).

Rohit Sharma (44) and Pathan then stitched a crucial 80-run stand for the fifth wicket that brought India on track after which the rain gods came down heavily. Pathan then added 133 runs with Saurabh Tiwari (37 not out) to take India to a comfortable win.