For MS Dhoni, it is the fast bowlers who are to be blamed for the match and the series defeat but if figures are to be looked clearly, India have lacked overall performance in matches played outside India.
There was a time when India used to win only in India than under Saurav Ganguly, we started to win outside India, that too consistently. But with consistent loss, first in South Africa and now in New Zealand, it looks like we are back to square one.
Who are to be blamed and what is the strategy of India for World Cup 2015?
Indian Captain, Dhoni, in a post-match conference after 4th ODI blamed his fast bowlers for the consistent loss. Dhoni said, "There is no doubt when it comes to talent, we definitely have the talent but our fast bowlers have not been intelligent enough to change game accordingly".
"They haven't stuck to plan as well, here we needed them to ball back of a length and outside off, but they bowled too wide giving too many runs and relieving the pressure built by the spinners" he added.
Yes, the bowlers haven't performed well but so has the batsman. Openers have failed to give a good start. Except for Virat and Dhoni, middle order too has collapsed all the time. They haven't been able to make or chase run.
Today India won the toss and decided to bat first, a decision that backfired. Rohit started the inning with Virat (when you have a genuine opener in Rahane, why go with Kohli). Virat fell quickly followed quickly by Rahane. Rohit scored 79 runs slowly with Rayudu contributing a little. Dhoni (79) again came to rescue with Jadeja blasting 8 fours and 2 sixes in his 62 runs innings.
India ended their inning on a mere total of 278, which according to Dhoni was enough. There was no such problem when it came to chasing the score, Ross Taylor (112 not out) and captain Brendon McCullum (49 not out) took New Zealand easily past India's 278 for five.
Jadeja and Ashwin tried to stop the run flow but fast bowlers gave Kiwi batsman lots of space to free their hand.
New Zealand now leads the 5 match ODI series by 3-0 with one match to go.
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