India vs New Zealand: MS Dhoni’s presence of mind gets the better of James Neesham – Watch

India overcame a disastrous start to earn a hard fought 35-run win to finish the series with a 4-1 scoreline in their favour, proving the heavy loss at Hamilton was an aberration.

India wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s presence of mind came to the fore once again as he effected a brilliant run-out during the fifth and the final ODI of the series against New Zealand in Wellington on Sunday.

India's MS Dhoni, right, runs out New Zealand's James Neesham during their fifth one day international at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.(AP)

In the 37th over of the Kiwi innings, batsman James Neesham (44 off 32) went for a sweep shot missed the line of a Kedar Jadhav delivery. The ball hit his pads and tricked down the leg side as the Indian players jumped up to appeal, asking for a LBW decision.

Seeing the India players caught up with the appeal, Neesham tried to steal a single and came out of his crease but Dhoni was having none of it as he collected the ball at leg slip and effected a direct hit. Replays showed that the batsman was out of the crease when the bails were dislodged. 

India overcame a disastrous start to earn a hard fought 35-run win to finish the series with a 4-1 scoreline in their favour, proving the heavy loss at Hamilton was an aberration.

At 18 for four, India were heading towards another sub-100 total before Ambati Rayudu (90 off 113) and Vijay Shankar (45 off 64) forged a 98-run stand to ensure India ended with a fighting 252.

Hardik Pandya’s 45 off 22 balls also went a long way in India posting a challenging target and his two wickets later on showed why he is such an important member of the team.

New Zealand batsmen, including skipper Kane Williamson (39), squandered their starts in the chase but the home team remained in the contest until Jimmy Neesham was dismissed in the 37th over.

New Zealand eventually ended with 217 in 44.1 overs despite Matt Henry’s unbeaten 17 off 9 in the final overs. Leggie Yuvzendra Chahal took three timely wickets for India, conceding just 41 runs in 10 overs.

((With agency inputs))