The third ODI between New Zealand and India was played at Mount Maunganui and the hosts had come into the match in a must-win situation with the visitors 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat first. Kiwis brought in Ish Sodhi for Colin de Grandhomme. India also made two changes, as Hardik Pandya replaced Vijay Shankar and Dinesh Karthik came in to replace a half-fit MS Dhoni.
New Zealand’s openers failed to put a good start, as Kumar removed Guptill for 13 and Shami got rid of Munro for 7. Kane Williamson looked good for his 28-run knock until Hardik Pandya took an excellent catch off Chahal’s bowling to send him back.
Then Ross Taylor (93) and Tom Latham (51) put on 119 runs for the 4th wicket to steady the ship. But Chahal removed Latham and then Pandya dealt the Kiwis a double blow of Nicholls and Santner and the onus of taking the team to over 250 runs fell on Taylor.
But it was not to be, as Mohammad Shami came back to have him caught behind by Karthik. New Zealand was finally bowled out for 243 in 49 overs.
For India, Shami picked 3/41, while Pandya, Chahal, and Bhuvneshwar picked two wickets each.
India’s chase began easily, as Dhawan (28) and Rohit (62) went on about their job at their own pace. Trent Boult removed Dhawan with India on 39. Virat Kohli walked in and with Rohit, added 113 runs for the second wicket to put New Zealand out of the game.
However, Santner had Rohit stumped and then Boult came back to get Kohli for 60. But then the experienced Rayudu and Karthik avoided giving away their wickets and took India to the win by 7 wickets. Rayudu ended up on 40* and Karthik ended with 38* in a good partnership of 77 unbeaten runs.
Mohammad Shami was named the Player of the Match for his 3/41.
This was the first time that India had beaten New Zealand in three successive ODIs in New Zealand. India went up 3-0 in the five-match series and it is their first ODI series win in New Zealand since 2008-09.
BRIEF SCORES:
NZ 243 (R TAYLOR 93; M SHAMI 3/41) lost to IND 245/3 (R Sharma 62; T BOULT 2/40) by 7 wickets
India led the 5-match series 3-0
