India keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik was elated at the way the Men in Blue defeated New Zealand in the third and final T20I in Ahmedabad to clinch the series 2-1. India had lost to the Kiwis in the first match in Ranchi, before winning in Lucknow in a tight encounter.
Everything was at play in Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad and Hardik Pandya opted to bat first after winning the toss. Thanks to an amazing record-breaking 126* from Shubman Gill, and 44 from Rahul Tripathi with contributions from Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik himself, India posted 234/4 in 20 overs.
Then the bowlers came to the fore and Hardik picked 4/16 while Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Mavi and Umran Malik took two wickets each as New Zealand was bowled out for 66 runs as India registered a massive 168-run win in the decider. This is the highest margin of victory by runs between two full-member nations in T20Is.
Reacting to the series win, Dinesh Karthik lauded the Indian team for their effort and said that India gave New Zealand tenfold back after the visitors handed the home team a smashing defeat at Ranchi in the first T20I.
"India gave New Zealand a taste of their own medicine because in the first T20I, they took three wickets in the powerplay and literally broke our back. We gave them tenfold there. Not only the margin by which they won but just the kind of catches they took, they put on a show out there," Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik further said that this Ahmedabad T20I win was a ruthless one.
"The batting scorecard was probably the best batting scorecard into how a team should play in a T20. The bowling scorecard, I think, just doesn't get any better, getting a team all out for 66. The fact that they held on to some phenomenal catches, especially Suryakumar Yadav, who held on to some blinders. I don't think Rahul Dravid and Hardik Pandya could have expected anything more from this team. A thoroughly brilliant performance," Karthik added.
The Indian team will now move to the four-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series which begins from February 9 onwards.
