Indian team head coach Gautam Gambhir has shown concern as the Men in Blue got out for 89 runs in the chase of 333 runs to lose the fourth ODI by 244 runs at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on November 13, 2026.
New Zealand was asked to bat first after Shreyas Iyer won the toss and posted 333 runs thanks to a century by Will Young (125) and Tim Seifert’s 58 runs. In response, Matt Henry took three wickets in the first over of the Indian innings, with Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shreyas Iyer all registering ducks.
Despite 27 by Ishan Kishan and contributions from Axar Patel and Naman Dhir, India was bowled out for 89 runs, with Matt Henry taking six wickets and becoming the Player of the Match. The five-ODI series now stands at 2-1 in India’s favor with one game to go.
Gambhir, in his address to the media at the press conference, dismissed any notion of the deliveries by Henry being “unplayable” and claimed the problem was only with the way the batsmen were playing them.
"There are no unplayable deliveries in international cricket. We needed to see off the first 10 overs. Matt Henry bowled in good areas, but we should be able to negate that. You are always concerned when you get bundled out for 90-odd. These are conditions close to the World Cup. Even in the previous game, we lost seven wickets; it's a concern," said Gambhir in the post-match press conference, as quoted by the Times of India.
He also recalled the second ODI match against New Zealand, where India had won the match with the help of the DLS method but ended up losing seven wickets for 111 runs.
"Even in the last game, we were 7 down for 111; it is a bit of a concern. We need to be mentally and skill-wise ready. 35-40/0 is fine in conditions like these. We have experience and can hopefully adapt in the last game," said Gambhir.
Despite New Zealand scoring 333 runs, Gambhir had no complaints about Indian bowling but stated that India needs to be better in the field, as the fielders are dropping a few catches.
"Auqib Nabi was unlucky; had we got Will Young, it could have been different. There's always hindsight. We dropped catches and will have to pay for it. All of us should be proud of our bowling unit,” Gambhir stated.
When asked about tackling the wobble seam, which seemed to have been a problem in this match, Gambhir said, "I don't go into technicalities. There wasn't a lot of deviation; it's the job of the batter to negate movement. More than a seam, areas and length created problems for us. We got stuck in the crease."
New Zealand will look to level the series, while India will want to win the series when the two teams clash on November 15 at the ground in the fifth and final ODI.
(Times of India inputs)
