New Zealand reduced India to 130 for 4 to hold the advantage at the half-way mark of the chase at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. There were three distinct phases of play during the chase: India dawdled to 10 from four overs, raced to 67 from ten, crawled again to reach 89 for 2 in 16 overs before losing two quick wickets in the rebuilding stage.
The start was tentative, perhaps due to the pressure exerted by the big target and, also, partly due to Parthiv Patel feeling the heat of a comeback. Patel was on 5 after facing16 deliveries before he started to counterattack with a little bit of help from New Zealand. Until then, they had tied him down with a fuller length but helped him break free by feeding him short deliveries. Parthiv slashed and cut his way to a maiden fifty but fell when the heat picked up again.
During the short period that India dominated, Gautam Gambhir also laced boundaries on both sides of the wicket. When he held his pose after driving Andy McKay through covers on a bent knee in the eight over, with the score 44 for 0, it seemed India had well and truly broken free of the early shackles. However, New Zealand, as they had done with the bat, came back strongly to retain control.
It happened for them in the tenth over, bowled by Andy McKay. First, Ross Taylor was seen suggesting that McKay try slower ones. Gambhir edged the first one to the fine-leg boundary but cut the next straight to point. Mckay removed Virat Kohli in the same over, by inducing him to top-edge a pull shot to the fine-leg boundary. Nathan McCullum then struck twice in succession to reduce India to 108 for 4. McCullum had Yuvraj Singh swiping to short midwicket and lured Patel into holing out at long-on. Things would have been dire for India had the umpire Ameesh Sahiba upheld a regulation bat and pad catch: Rohit Sharma was on 0 when he inside edged Daniel Vettori on to his pad and Brendon McCullum held the rebound.
50 Overs New Zealand 315 for 7 (Franklin 98*, Taylor 46, McCullum 42) v India
James Franklin played a perfectly-paced innings - ramping it up in the last couple of overs - to propel New Zealand to a strong position in the fourth ODI in Bangalore. His knock provided the perfect climax to New Zealand's refreshing approach today; the openers attacked to take them to 91 for 2 in the 14th over and the middle-order adapted to the fall of wickets by rebuilding at a slower pace before Franklin's final flourish. India, led by Ashish Nehra, soaked up the pressure of the attack by the openers, and seemed to be in the game till the end but Franklin broke their discipline, and ruined their figures, with a stunning assault.
Franklin looted 22 runs in the final over, bowled by Nehra, with some wickedly entertaining big hits: He smashed the second delivery to the straight boundary, the third over long-off, the fourth to midwicket, and the fifth to the wide long-off boundary. It was not, however, a knock of such fury and adrenalin from the start; he had actually built his innings with conventional shots, such as the one in 47th over, when he was batting with the tail and was under some pressure. He sashayed down the track to Yusuf Pathan, who had just picked two wickets, and nonchalantly flicked him wide of the deep midwicket fielder. No manic rush or desperation; he simply carried on with his style, sweeping the spinners and flicking and square driving the seamers to get to his fifty. Only in the final two overs did he explode.
His change of pace reflected New Zealand's overall approach. There were two moments when they could have stumbled: They were at 210 for 5 after Ross Taylor fell, trapped lbw by R Ashwin, first ball after taking the batting Powerplay in the 38th over and they were at 249 for 6 in 43 overs when Daniel Vettori was dismissed. Yet they kept their composure and the innings stayed on track.
New Zealand began in audacious manner in overcast conditions and with some movement - especially in a fine opening over from Zaheer Khan; Brendon McCullum opted for unconventional methods, charging down or shuffling across to create room for his unorthodoxy to flower, while Guptill was aggressive within the framework of traditional batting, lofting his drives and whipping the full deliveries through the on side.
McCullum made his first move in the second over, from Praveen Kumar, by rushing down the track to play a one-handed carve over cover point. That emboldened him to play more such strokes: he smashed Zaheer to the straight boundary, lifted him over mid-off, shuffled to the off to force a boundary on the leg side and lifted Nehra to the long-off boundary. India tried to see if he would make a mistake against spin but McCullum continued to impose himself, deploying both conventional and reverse-sweeps to pick up boundaries against R Ashwin.
It was Guptill who first got the chance to activate this aggressive plan. Praveen tried to bring the lbw into play with a couple of inswingers but Guptill took the risk and flicked him across the line to the midwicket boundary. He then twice lofted Nehra over mid-on and, at that point, New Zealand were sitting pretty on 62 for 0 in 8.3 overs.
Nehra engineered India's fightback, though he was helped by a mistake from Guptill, who carved a full delivery outside off to short extra cover. It wasn't clear whether the error happened because Guptill had played one shot too many and hence was over-aggressive, or whether it was because he had played a half-hearted shot. India had their breakthrough and a foot back in the game. In his next over, Nehra induced Jamie How to edge a length delivery to slips and New Zealand were 70 for 2.
Then Ashwin, who leaked 17 runs in his first two overs and had just been swept for a boundary, tossed one full outside off stump and lured McCullum into swiping it to Rohit Sharma at short midwicket. New Zealand, who were 91 for 3 with McCullum's fall in the 14th over, started to consolidate. Ross Taylor and Scott Styris, perhaps aware of the fragility of the lower order, chose caution over aggression as New Zealand sauntered in the middle overs before Franklin imposed himself in some style.
