The India vs New Zealand fourth ODI match has concluded as the Men in Blue have been handed a humiliating defeat by the Kiwis by a margin of 244 runs at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. The Kiwis make the series 1-2 after this win. Shreyas Iyer, who made his captaincy debut in the ODI, opened up the team’s performances.

Speaking after the loss, Shreyas Iyer was gutted with the team’s performance. He felt that the batters did not have much to do, as it was great bowling from Matt Henry, who was lethal with the new ball.

Will Young punishes India for dropping two catches

India won the toss and, yet again, asked New Zealand to bat first. The Men in Blue made some changes, as they brought in Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Kuldeep Yadav, as Shubman Gill and KL Rahul were unavailable because they joined the Test squad. Kiwis made six changes from their 2nd ODI match.

After being asked to bat first, the Kiwis had a cautious start as Will Young was dropped twice in the span of two deliveries, and then the openers Tim Seifert and Young went all guns blazing, with the latter playing a knock of 58 runs and building an 85-run partnership. Then some small partnership helped the side to go past 100.

Then a 90-run partnership between Young and Finn Allen helped the side score runs in the middle overs, and that too at a good run rate. Young, who was dropped twice for four runs, went on to score a hundred. As the opener played a knock of 125 runs, smashing 14 boundaries and four sixes.

They scored 333 runs, with Axar Patel, Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi picking two wickets each. Arshdeep Singh and Naman Dhir picked one wicket each to bowl out the home side.

India had no answer to Matt Henry masterclass

While coming out to chase, India were in deep trouble by a masterclass first over from Matt Henry, who dismissed Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for ducks, as the team was struggling at 0/3 at one stage. Then Ruturaj Gaikwad also went back with India when it was 9/4.

A small partnership from Axar Patel and Ishan Kishan helped the side to go past the 50-run mark. Axar was dismissed for 21 runs, and soon Ishan Kishan, who was the top scorer for the side, was out for 27 runs, as India were bowled out for 89 runs, which was their second-lowest total against the Kiwis.

Matt Henry was the Player of the Match, as he rattled the Indian batting order. The veteran pacer finished off with the figures of 6/27. This was an excellent performance from the speedster.

"There was a huge difference": Shreyas Iyer on India's loss

Shreyas Iyer, in the post-match presentation, stated that there was a massive difference between the way the pitch behaved in the first innings and in the second innings. He felt that the pitch was better to bat on in the first innings; however, he credited Matt Henry with the way he bowled with the new ball and rattled India’s top order completely.

Shreyas Iyer stated (as quoted by Cricbuzz), "[On the defeat and summing up the performance] We saw it, there was a huge difference in the first innings and the second innings in terms of wicket, but also credit where it's due, the way Henry bowled in the right areas right from ball one. I think that was sensational."

"[On the use of short-ball tactics and the ideal bowling length on the surface] I think we tried almost everything in the first innings, the way they were playing on the rise. And we thought that the wicket was better to bat on considering they got 330 after that. Obviously a couple of dropped catches, but that definitely happens in a game."

"It's important to forget": Shreyas Iyer wants team to move forward after humiliating loss

Shreyas Iyer further added that he felt that the run chase would be easy, seeing the wicket, but in the second innings the ball moved a bit, and it was seaming in and out that created problems for the batters. He feels that the team would go to the drawing board and look at what went wrong for each department and come back strong in the last game.

Shreyas Iyer added, "But yeah, when we got into the dressing room, we thought that we would be cruising through the chase as well. But the way the ball was seaming in and out, you couldn't basically decide from inside that this is how I'm going to play. Or even if you saw the wickets, no one threw the wicket away. It was good deliveries."

"[On preparing for the next match] It's important to forget about this one, obviously, analyze what went wrong in terms of bowling and batting. But at the back of the mind it's important that we have also won two games. So a lot of inspiration from that one and see to it that we come with a fresh set of mind."

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