New Zealand 3-280 (Ross Taylor 112*, Kane Williamson 60, Brendon McCullum 49*, Varun Aaron 1-51) beat India 5-278 (MS Dhoni 79*, Rohit Sharma 79, Tim Southee 2-36) by seven wickets.
The Black Caps maintained their disciplined batting as the middle order batsman, Ross Taylor, powered an unbeaten hundred and led his team to victory vs. India.
The visitors scored 278 runs after losing half of their side in 50 overs and the hosts hammered 280 with seven wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare.
Ross Taylor (New Zealand) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his superb unbeaten hundred.
The fourth One Day International of the five match series was held on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, at Seddon Park, Hamilton.
Earlier, MS Dhoni won the toss for the Blue Shirts on the fourth time in the series and decided to bat, but lost two batsmen at 22. Ambati Rayudu and the opener, Rohit Sharma, stabilised the innings with continuous boundaries while the latter attained his 21st ODI fifty with a six. The first was gone at 101 after scoring 37 and was replaced by Dhoni. Sharma continued with his rhythm but surrendered his wicket 41 runs later for 79 and the visitors were 5-151 in 33.1 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja, joined in with his skipper, pushed the scoring rate and the score board displayed 200 after 42 overs. Dhoni reached his 54th ODI half century with a four and Jadeja followed his skipper with his 8th ODI fifty. The duo held their ends for 79 and 62 as the Men in Blue managed 5-278.
Tim Southee was the main wicket taker with two whereas kyle Mills, Hamish Bennett and Kane Williamson shared one each.
The Kiwi openers provided a reasonable stand to their team but both went back to the pavilion at 58 in 8.1 overs. Ross Taylor along with Kane Williamson took their time to settle down and added 5 fours until the end of the 22nd one. The first was the most aggressive of the two and went past his half century with a boundary. Kane Williamson registered his fourth consecutive fifty of the series and was run out for 60 as the total touched 188 after 34.2 overs.
The captain of the home side, Brendon McCullum, walked in next as the pair appreciated the run rate instantly. Ross Taylor smashed his 9th ODI century and secured his end for 112 off 127 deliveries with 15 fours. McCullum hit the winning six on the first ball of the 49th over and remained not out for 49 as the Black Caps attained the target by plundering 280 for the loss of three mere wickets.
Mohammed Shami and Varun Aaron were the only successful bowlers with one wicket each.
New Zealand triumphed in the encounter convincingly by a wide margin of seven wickets and leads the series at 3-0.
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