Nov 13 (Reuters) - Will Young hit a century and Matt Henry took six wickets as New Zealand sealed a dominant 244-run victory by bowling India out for 89 in the fourth one-day international in Mount Maunganui on Friday to remain afloat in the series.
The hosts trail India 2-1 and can no longer win the five-match series, but they can avoid defeat if they win the final match at the same venue on Sunday. The third match was abandoned due to rain.
Chasing 334 for victory, India got off to a disastrous start as paceman Henry ripped through their top order in a lethal first over, taking the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer to leave the visitors reeling on 0-3.
Ruturaj Gaikwad also departed shortly afterwards, but a steely 44-run partnership between Ishan Kishan (27) and Axar Patel (21), and a quickfire 21 from Naman Dhir helped ensure they did not lose by a record margin in terms of runs.
Henry took three more wickets as India were bundled out for their sixth-lowest ODI total.
Earlier on Friday, New Zealand opener Young made up for his single-digit scores of 9 and 6 in the opening two matches of the series with an assured knock of 125 from 108 balls — his best-ever ODI score and his fifth century in the format.
The 33-year-old profited from some lax fielding by India, with Rohit and Kishan dropping him on consecutive deliveries in the second over of New Zealand's innings.
Young was supported by Tim Seifert (58) and Finn Allen (41), while India's Patel, Gurnoor Brar and Auqib Nabi each picked up two wickets.
India were without captain Shubman Gill and batter KL Rahul, who will also miss the final ODI as they prepare for the upcoming two-test series against New Zealand beginning on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
