New Zealand captain Kane Williamson was happy as the hosts won the three-match ODI series against India by a margin of 1-0 after the third ODI at Christchurch got rained out on November 30, 2022.
New Zealand had come into this match with a lead of 1-0 having won the first match in Auckland quite convincingly by 7 wickets. The second ODI in Hamilton was rained off and much was expected from this final ODI at Hagley Oval.
Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bowl first in overcast conditions. His bowlers did extremely well with Tim Southee and Daryl Mitchell picking three wickets each as India was folded for 219 runs.
For India, Washington Sundar made 51, his maiden ODI hundred, and Shreyas Iyer scored 49 runs, as India's batting collapsed under swing and movement.
In reply, New Zealand were 104/1 with Finn Allen having made a half-century when rains came down after 18 overs. Just two more overs were needed for the match to be constituted as a full match, but the rains didn’t stop and in the end, the officials called off the match, giving New Zealand a 1-0 series win.
Kane Williamson said in the post-match presentation: "When we have been playing cricket we have been applying ourselves. Some good stuff in the rained-off games too. We knew that 20 overs would constitute a match, but we could see the weather coming, it has been following us. Daryl has been hanging out for a bowl for ages. Milne felt a niggle but didn't want to stop. Focus changes to the Test arena. Guys get a break now and that's important too. Been pretty busy. We will regroup as a Test team after the break."
Kiwi keeper-batter Tom Latham was named the Player of the Series for his 145* in the first ODI.
He said: “It was a nice series for the whole group and personally as well. Bit of a shame I didn't get any play in the next two games. We bowled fantastically well this morning. Hit the right lengths and got some movement off the surface and restricted them to that total. Finn played uncharacteristic in terms of his usual aggressive way. The ball was moving around and it did enough out of the right lengths. Mitchell did a fantastic job too. Lot of the guys have played each other, especially the IPL so there is some friendly banter. Certainly not cold for us but very cold for them (smiles).”
The next assignment for New Zealand will be the tour of Pakistan, while India will travel to Bangladesh.
(Prime Video inputs)
