New Zealand's bemused bowlers play a dead rubber in Auckland on Saturday that has a lot at stake for them. A win will help them restore some credibility, Daniel Vettori had said minutes after Virender Sehwag smote his side into submission in Hamilton on Wednesday.
It was the bowlers who made New Zealand change their preferred one-day international approach: chasing almost every time on winning the toss. The last 10 times they had won the toss before the Hamilton match, they opted to chase on eight occasions. They just didn't want Virender Sehwag to make first use of flat conditions. Or Sachin Tendulkar. Or MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh or Gautam Gambhir. Or even Yusuf Pathan. The New Zealand bowlers need to find a way, quickly.
"I think we bowled a little bit better than we have, but it wasn't good enough to compete against him [Sehwag]," Vettori said after the last match. "It was just poor execution, and I don't think there is any excuse for the performance."
