Auqib Nabi held his head in disbelief. In the span of two deliveries at Bay Oval on Friday, India gifted New Zealand opener Will Young two clean reprieves in the second over of the fourth ODI. Nabi found the outside edge twice. Both times, India’s cordon botched the take.
Rohit Sharma grassed the first chance at slip on the fifth ball, lunging toward an edge that flew low outside off stump. Then came the sixth. Nabi extracted another sharp edge off Young’s bat, only for wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan to fumble the regulation catch behind the stumps. Two balls, two lives, zero wickets.
Nabi generated immediate seam movement under clear Mount Maunganui skies, putting New Zealand's top order under instant pressure before the fielding unraveled. The double blunder spared Young before he had anchored the innings, leaving Nabi empty-handed despite a hostile start with the new ball.
The fielding lapse marked an uncharacteristic wobble for a side pushing for historic dominance. India entered the contest leading the five-match series 2-0, sitting on the brink of becoming the first touring squad in seven years to capture a bilateral ODI series on New Zealand soil.
Shreyas Iyer stepped onto the field for his debut as India's ODI captain after Shubman Gill exited the white-ball camp. Gill joined several frontline teammates heading into red-ball preparations ahead of the opening Test match against New Zealand, scheduled to start next Thursday.
Yet the change in leadership did not alter India’s freakish fortune with the coin. Iyer called tails, won the toss, and promptly elected to bowl first. India have now won eight of their last nine tosses across the T20I and ODI legs of this tour—shouting tails on every single flip.
Both teams reshuffled their lineups aggressively. Ruturaj Gaikwad broke into the XI for his first appearance of the series, while Kishan took the gloves to relieve KL Rahul behind the stumps. Left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav returned to bolster the middle overs. New Zealand countered with five changes of their own due to injuries and Test-squad departures, handing starts to Finn Allen, Nick Kelly, and Dean Foxcroft in the batting order, alongside pacers Matt Henry and Kristian Clark.
| Match | Venue | Result / Margin | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st ODI | Auckland | India won by 5 wickets | Completed (Rain-affected) |
| 2nd ODI | Wellington | India won by 4 runs | Completed (Rain-affected) |
| 3rd ODI | Wellington | Match abandoned without a ball bowled | Abandoned (Rain) |
| 4th ODI |
Forecasters cleared Mount Maunganui of the rain that plagued earlier stops, where India scraped home by five wickets in Auckland and edged a four-run thriller in Wellington before Tuesday's total washout. India now press to seal the series outright ahead of the fifth and final ODI.
| Mount Maunganui |
| In progress |
| India elected to bowl |