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 India's cricketers today ended a disastrous tour of New Zealand easily losing the seventh and final one-dayer after another insipid batting display, which would have further dented their confidence prior to the World Cup. Put in to bat first on a seamer-friendly wicket, the Indians struggled to reach the three-figure mark to be all out for 122, failing again to last their quota of 50 overs. New Zealanders achieved their target after initial hiccups to win the match by six wickets and the series 5-2. After registering their lone victories of the tour in the last two matches while chasing the target, it was back to square one for the Indians with the batsmen floundering once again when asked to bat first on a wicket that belied expectations and offered generous support to the seamers.
The top six batsmen were back in the pavilion with just 44 runs on the board and it required gutsy performances from Yuvraj Singh and Anil Kumble to carry the team past the three-figure mark. Yuvraj top-scored with 33 while Kumble made 21, putting on a 49-run partnership for the seventh wicket that saved the tourists some blushes in an otherwise disappointing outing. New Zealand too lost a few early wickets and were 32 for three at one stage, but captain Stephen Fleming struck timely form to guide his side to the target in just 28.4 overs. Fleming remained unbeaten on an attractive 60. This was India's seventh defeat in nine matches, including the two Tests, on the tour, in probably the worst preparation for next month's World Cup in South Africa.
 Javagal Srinath, who has been outstanding in the one-day series claiming 18 wickets from seven matches, claimed two scalps today but let go the opportunity of completing 300 wickets in one-day internationals. He dropped an easy return catch from Scott Styris, which would have made him only the fifth bowler in history to join the 300-club. As has been the trend on this tour, the Indian batting problems started early with the first three wickets dismissed for just 17 runs. Last match centurion Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were dismissed cheaply for four and one respectively before Dinesh Mongia earned a first ball duck. Sehwag attempted a cut against a rising delivery from Kyle Mills and edged a catch to wicketkeeper Brendon
McCullum.
 Daryl Tuffey then gave India a double blow in his fourth over when he sent back Tendulkar and Mongia off in successive balls, both the batsmen being caught by Fleming in the slips. This was the third failure in a row for Tendulkar who had missed the first four one-dayers due to an injury. Mongia, who was included in India's World Cup squad in place of V V S Laxman, also failed to make any impression in the three matches he played after joining the team late on this tour. Captain Sourav Ganguly and his deputy Rahul Dravid tried a recovery exercise but could not carry on for long. Both of them looked comfortable against the New Zealand pace attack but were out within four balls of each other at the total of 44 to leave India in a hopeless position.
When Mohammad Kaif was dismissed for a duck at the same total, India were staring at the possibility of being shot out for less than their lowest score of 108 against New Zealand. However, Kumble came up with a stubborn resistance in the company of Yuvraj Singh, who has had a few decent scores in this series. The two slowly took the score to 93 in the 34th over before Yuvraj fell to Scott Styris. Kumble continued his defiance a little longer and added 19 valuable runs for the ninth wicket with Srinath who contributed 15 before being the last man out. But the total of 122 was hardly reassuring even though Srinath and Zaheer Khan once again started in a fiery fashion. Srinath got rid of opener Matthew Sinclair and Chris Cairns with sharply incoming deliveries that went between the bat and pads to crash into the stumps. Cairns, who returned to international cricket after a long injury lay-off in the fifth one-dayer at Wellington, was dismissed by Srinath for the third time in a row and was bowled between bat and pads on all occasions.
 In between Srinath's two successes, Zaheer Khan trapped McCullum, promoted in the order, leg before wicket and at 32 for three, India were hoping to stage a fightback. But Fleming, who like his Indian counterpart had struggled for most part of the series, doggedly guarded his wicket and found a similar determined partner in Scott Styris who made full use of the reprieve earned from Srinath. The two took the score past 100 in the 25th over, leaving victory only a formality before Kumble earned his 303rd wicket. He clean bowled Styris with a delivery that kept low and crashed into the stumps.
The defeat left India with a lot to ponder on during their two-week break ahead of the World Cup, which starts in South Africa on February 8.
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