The Indian Cricket team reinforced its supremacy in Chennai on December 19, sending out Black Caps with a humiliating defeat and clinching in the process the One Day International (ODI) five-match series 5-0.
It was the ninth successive loss for the Black Caps and none would forget the drubbing that they received in Bangladesh, losing all four matches.
The low-scoring New Zealand team had just 103 runs in just 27 overs on the scoreboard, giving India no trouble in chasing them down in 21.1 overs, losing only two wickets.
Spin bowler Ravichandran Ashwin proved to be a killer for the Black Caps. He took eight wickets in the fifth and final ODI in Chennai. He grabbed three wickets, giving away 24 runs in eight overs.
From all accounts, it was a brilliant performance for the Indian team, which needs all the points to face the World Cup early next year.
Skipper Daniel Vettori would have cursed his decision to bat first, on what proved to be a slow wicket. The Black Caps lost opener Martin Guptill without a score. It was a brilliant ball from Praveen Kumar that sent him back to the pavilion.
Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor fell cheaply to the brilliant bowling of Ashish Nehra, scoring 14 and nine runs respectively.
The fourth wicket stand between Jamie How and Scott Styris seemed to reach half a century but their fourth wicket partnership produced only 43 runs. Yuvraj Singh broke their partnership with a brilliant spin attack.
Ashwin trapped Styris (24) leg before wicket as the Black Caps were struggling on 73 for five.
The vicious spin proved too difficult to handle by the lower-order batsmen as they lost their last five wickets for just 30 runs.
As the Indian team went to the crease, it looked as though not all was lost, especially when the Black Caps dismissed Skipper Gautam Gambhir on the third ball of the first over for duck.
Gambhir tried to cut a short Nathan McCullum delivery and in the process ended up giving a simple catch to Brendon standing behind the wicket. Virat Kohli followed him to the rest room, thanks to a superb delivery by Vettori. The batsman played a simple ball on the back foot, which bounced into the hands of Ross Taylor on the first slip.
At 10 for two, India looked in deep trouble but Parthiv Patel and Yuvraj played sensible cricket to hand India their fifth victory in a row. They got a stand of 97 runs for the third wicket.
Making a comeback after six years, Patel scored 56 runs off 70 balls and remained unbeaten with Yuvraj at stumps.
The ODI series victory was the first for India on home ground in 27 years. It was in 1983 that they defeated Sri Lanka 3-0.
The Score Board:
New Zealand: 103 all out in 27 overs (Scott Styris 24, Jamie How 23; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/24).
India: Won by eight wickets (Parthiv Patel 56, Yuvraj Singh 42; Nathan McCullum 1, Daniel Vettori 1).
