Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli ended their poor New Zealand tour on Sunday in Mount Maunganui. The senior batters failed to get past the Powerplay for the second time in three days. Rohit finished with 30 runs in four innings, while Kohli struggled to score, marking a tough series overall.
Just a little over a day after they were castled in the first over by Matt Henry in the fourth ODI, Rohit and Kohli failed to counter the nagging conditions once again in Tauranga.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's nightmarish tour of New Zealand with the bat came to an early end on Sunday in Mount Maunganui as the heavyweight India batters failed to get past the Powerplay for the second time in three days.
Just a little over a day after they were castled in the first over by Matt Henry in the fourth ODI that India lost by a massive 244-run margin, Rohit and Kohli failed to counter the nagging conditions once again. The 39-year-old Rohit looked uncomfortable despite opening his account with a boundary through extra cover.
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Rohit's stay was cut short in the sixth over when he mistimed a flick down to the deep mid-wicket fielder off Matt Fisher. Rohit ended the series with only 30 runs in four innings, marking one of his poorest bilateral performances ever.
His 7.5 average is the second-lowest for Rohit in an ODI bilateral series where he has turned out to bat at least four times, only behind the disaster 2010 tour to Sri Lanka where he averaged 2.5.
Kohli's worst in 12 years
Despite putting on a superlative performance in the first ODI on tour with a 51-ball 74, Kohli too has failed to live up to the expectations thereafter. After falling for seven and 0 in the previous two matches, Kohli too fell to Fisher's quick bouncer, the top-edge carrying to wicket-keeper Tim Seifert. Kohli ended the series averaging only 21.5, his second-worst performance in a bilateral series since averaging 18 on a nightmarish England tour of 2014.
On Friday, India marked a dubious ODI low in only the third instance of a team losing three wickets for no runs on board in the first over of an innings.
It was also only the second time in 16 years that India lost both Rohit and Kohli for ducks in the same ODI. The senior duo previously fell for blobs in the same innings against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in 2010.