Virender Sehwag's blitzkrieg has really singed the Kiwi psyche, so much so, that a vexed Daniel Vettori conceded that if the Blackcaps do not find an answer for the opener's pyrotechnics soon, India would walk all over in the rest of the tour.
He could not find a good enough explanation for Wednesday's 10-wicket defeat.
"I can't explain it better. But we haven't found an answer to Sehwag and that is going to be the difference between the two sides. We are pretty inept with the ball when we come up against him.
"Sehwag creates a momentum at the top of the order and is such an aggressive player that he can take the game away quite quickly. A lot of our emphasis is on him. If we contain him, it would be handy," Vettori had said at the start of the series.
Sehwag did just that at the Seddon Park, leaving the Kiwis to lick their wounds even after they had posted a challenging 270 for five.
The Delhi blaster produced the fastest hundred (60-ball) by an Indian batsman, the seventh fastest in ODI history, as India galloped to 201 for no loss in barely 24.3 overs, before the game was abandoned due to rain.
Vettori had wanted to see his bowlers put the ball in the right areas. And did not mind if they were hit for a six off a good ball, but had fretted the thought of them giving Sehwag width.
As the captain had ordered, they did manage to put the ball in the right areas, but Sehwag converted even good balls into boundaries, hitting through the line or against it.
Anything pitched up, disdainfully driven or lofted over the in-field. The ones that were dropped short, were cut, pulled and hooked. While it rained intermittently, fours and sixes rained unabatedly from Sehwag's willow.
There was little Kyle Mills, Ewen Thompson and Iain O'Brien could do. They were simply blasted out of the attack, reduced to on-field spectators.
At one stage, when Vettori was signaling debutant Thompson for a second spell, the left-arm seamer looked yonder, almost with a "do I have to bowl at him" expression.
Not since Sir Viv Richards has any batsman frazzled bowlers with his naked aggression. Yes, Matthew Hayden did create an atmosphere of awe around him. So do Chris Gayle and Andrew Symonds. But certainly not to the extent Sehwag does.
He is brutal at his best, which he has been on this sojourn belting out scores of 77, 54, 3 and 125 not out in the ODIs.
