New Zealand vs India: Kane Williamson keeps purple patch going with fifth consecutive fifty
Kane Williamson notched up his fifth fifty of the series in as many games, becoming the second batsman to do so in a five-match series nafter Pakistan's Yasir Hameed.
New Zealand's No. 3 batsman Kane Williamson's purple patch extended into the final one-dayer against India. The 23-year-old once again came to the rescue of his team after the fall of two early wickets and carved a brilliant half-century, his fifth of the five-match series, alongside Ross Taylor. (Fifth ODI scorecard | Live Blog)
Williamson added to his scores of 71, 77, 65 and 60 by posting 88 off 91 balls and continued to frustrate MS Dhoni and his jaded bowlers.
Williamson began slowly but once he got his eye in, his tremendous form with the bat continued. He and Taylor, faced with the task of steadying the Kiwi ship once again, added 152 runs for the third wicket.
Williamson displayed his uncanny prowess of playing the spinners as six of his eight boundaries came off Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. With Ashwin not getting too much assistance from the wicket and the Kiwis looking to attack the spinners, Williamson stepped down the track frequently and played some glorious shots, targeting his favourite area through covers. He also slammed a six off Mohammed Shami.
He missed out on his first ton of the series and his 11th overall in ODIs by just 11 runs when he was caught at point by Ajinkya Rahane off Varun Aaron, but has once again proved to be a vital cog in New Zealand's batting line-up.