Guwahati, Nov 14: After batting New Zealand out of the game in two successive matches, India's top three batsmen fell in a heap as the hosts lost the fourth One-day international cricket tie by 48 runs today to let their rivals square the series 2-all with a match to go.After restricting New Zealand to 236 for nine on putting them in on a track which showed early life and then grew slower, India never recovered from early jolts to be bowled out for 188 in 45.3 overs to dash hopes of wrapping up the series within the distance at Nehru Stadium.Skipper Sachin Tendulkar (2) failed to reach double figures for the second match in a row and both Rahul Dravid (5) and the free-stroking Saurav Ganguly all three struck big centuries to propel India to victory in the previous two ties for a 2-1 lead followed suit as India lost their way.Left-hander Sunil Joshi cracked a strokeful, unbeaten 61 for his maiden One-day half-century studded with two fours and three sixes after coming in at number eight but it wasin vain and he ran out of partners with 4.3 overs left.Chris Drum (2-31) struck early blows and with fellow paceman Scott Styris (2-39) and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori (2/37) claimed bowling honours while Chris Harris effected two run outs with direct hits as only Ajay Jadeja (27) and Vijay Bharadwaj (27) showed some top-order resilience.Man of the match Chris Cairns (80) struck his 14th fifty and raised 96 runs for the fourth wicket with Roger Twose (46) to pull the Kiwis to respectability after India had left them gasping at 32 for three at an early stage.Required to score at a reasonable rate of 4.74 an over, Indians found the going tough once Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly fell in quick succession. The focus will now shift to the Ferozeshah Kotla in Delhi where the fifth and deciding encounter will be played on November 17.The hosts suffered an early jolt when Tendulkar was dismissed cheaply with Drum providing the breakthrough. The master batsman could not properly time an attempted driveand Craig Spearman brought off the catch in the cover region after the ball rebounded off silly mid-off fielder Stephen Fleming's hand.SCOREBOARDNew Zealand: C Spearman run out 25, N Astle lbw Kumaran 1, S Fleming c Ganguly b Agarkar 4, R Twose c Robin Singh b Chopra 46, C Cairns run out 80, A Parore run out 3, C Harris c Kumaran b Bharadwaj 29, S Styris b Bharadwaj 3, A Tait not out 13, D Vettori c and b Chopra 11, C Drum not out 2; Extras (b1, lb7, nb2, w9) 19.Total (for nine wickets in 50 overs) 236.Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-30, 3-32, 4-128, 5-143, 6-202, 7-206, 8-210, 9-233.Bowling: A Agarkar 10-1-68-1, T Kumaran 8-1-29-1, S Ganguly 3-1-18-0, Robin Singh 6-0-20-0, S Joshi 4-0-19-0, V Bharadwaj 10-0-41-2, N Chopra 9-0-33-2.India: S Ganguly lbw b Drum 17, S Tendulkar c Spearman b Drum 2, R Dravid c Parore b Cairns 5, A Jadeja c Parore b Vettori 27, V Bharadwaj b Harris 27, R Singh run out 2, MSK Prasad c Twose b Vettori 16, S Joshi notout 61, N Chopra run out 13, A Agarkar lbw b Styris 4, T Kumaran c Harris b Styris 8; Extras (lb1, w5) 6.Total (all out in 45.3 overs) 188.Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-27, 3-27, 4-83, 5-85, 6-88, 7-126, 8-172, 9-178.Bowling: Drum 6-1-31-2, Cairns 5-1-14-1, Styris 9.3-0-39-2, Tait 2-0-9-0, Vettori 10-1-37-2, Harris 6-0-25-1, Astle 7-0-32-0.
