Cricket: Black Caps sink even lower

Daniel Vettori's Black Caps side suffered New Zealand's fourth 5-0 drubbing in a five-match series. Photo / Getty

Eleven losses, and still very much counting.

The good news for the New Zealand cricket team is that they are leaving India, bound for New Zealand and maybe even some Christmas cheer.

The bad news is that, following an embarrassing 0-5 one-day international series loss to the hosts, they must return to same country for the World Cup in February having suffered 11 successive losses in that part of the world.

And it should be noted the bad news is not limited to that.

It was a case of another day, another humbling, another unwanted record for the tourists overnight (NZT) as they tumbled to an eight-wicket loss to India in the fifth and final one-day international at Chennai.

Having won the toss and found the surface good enough to bat first on at the M.A Chidambaram Stadium, New Zealand could muster just 103 all out, their lowest one-day international score against India.

Whereas they had at least been able to achieve semi-competitive scores with the bat in the first four matches, the lineup capitulated at Chennai.

Unable to cope with the control and swing of Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra at the top of the order, and, just as concerning, the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan at the bottom, the tourists were bundled out in just 27 overs.

Martin Guptill was dismissed without scoring in the first over and a procession of wickets followed.

Only Jamie How (23) and Scott Styris (24) passed 20, while allrounder James Franklin, coming off back-to-back half centuries, was left stranded on 17.

Offspinner Ashwin continued his torment of the New Zealanders with match-best figures of three for 24 from eight overs, while part-timers Singh and Pathan snared two cheap wickets each.

New Zealand's best bowlers in the series, spinners Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori, opened the bowling and each claimed an early wicket in good spells of one for 26 from six overs and one for 30 from six, respectively, but the hosts were still able to cruise to victory in the 22nd over.

Singh completed a handy match with an unbeaten 42 while Parthiv Patel had time to notch a half century and was 56 not out.

This was New Zealand's fourth 5-0 drubbing in a five-match series, three of which have come since 2003, and against an Indian team resting frontline players Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and, at different times, Zaheer Khan and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth.

It also followed a 0-4 series loss against Bangladesh in October, which in turn followed back-to-back losses in a Sri Lanka-hosted tri-series in August.

New Zealand's last limited overs win was against India in the first match of that series on August 10.

They return home before embarking on a full home series against Pakistan, starting on Boxing Day, the last chance to turn their dire situation around before next year's World Cup.

SCOREBOARD:

New Zealand
M Guptill c P Patel b Kumar 0
B McCullum lbw b Nehra 14
J How b Singh 23
R Taylor c P Patel b Nehra 9
S Styris lbw b Ashwin 24
J Franklin not out 17
G Elliott lbw b Singh 0
D Vettori c Singh b Pathan 9
N McCullum c Singh b Pathan 1
K Mills c Tiwary b Ashwin 4
T Southee c Sharma b Ashwin 0
Extras (2w) 2
Total (27 overs) 103

Fall: 0 (Guptill), 14 (B McCullum), 28 (Taylor), 71 (How), 73 (Styris), 74 (Elliott), 90 (Vettori), 98 (N McCullum), 103 (Mills), 103 (Southee).

Bowling: P Kumar 6-1-20-1 (1w), A Nehra 5-0-34-2 (1w), M Patel 3-0-9-0, R Ashwin 8-1-24-3, Y Singh 2-0-5-2, Y Pathan 3-0-11-2.

India
G Gambhir c B McCullum b N McCullum 0
P Patel not out 56
V Kohli c Taylor b Vettori 2
Y Singh not out 42
Extras (2lb, 5w) 7
Total (for 2 wkts, 21.1 overs) 107

Fall: 0 (Gambhir), 10 (Kohli).

Bowling: N McCullum 6-1-26-1, D Vettori 6-0-30-1 (5w), S Styris 4-0-7-0, K Mills 1-0-15-0, G Elliott 4.1-0-27-0.

Result: India win by eight wickets and win the five-match series 5-0.

- NZPA