New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first. India made two changes to the side that won on Saturday. MS Dhoni had to miss out owing to a hamstring injury which allowed Dinesh Karthik to don the gloves. Vijay Shankar made way for Hardik Pandya, who played his first ODI since the Asia Cup in September.

India struck as early as in the second over when Mohammed Shami got Colin Munro nicking one to Rohit Sharma in the slip cordon. The hosts needed Martin Guptill to fire in this crucial encounter but their opener failed again despite looking positive when he edged a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.

New Zealand had a massive rebuilding job to do. Their leading men with the bat — Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor combined to bail them out of trouble. The plan was clear – to respect the spinners and have wickets in hand to slam-bang in the later part of the innings.

Kane Williamson was rock-solid for his 28 until Hardik Pandya produced a screamer at short-mid. He went flying towards his left and plucked the ball out of thin air to cause his downfall.

Tom Latham joined forces with Ross Taylor and negated India’s spinners. Hardik Pandya bowled economically keeping things tight while Kedar Jadhav was easy to score off. Ross got to his fifty in 71 balls with Latham playing second fiddle as India entered a wicket-less phase.

The duo added 119 runs for the fourth wicket before Chahal dismissed Latham on 51. Hardik Pandya made in-roads by removing Henry Nicholls and Mitchell Santner in quick-succession to leave the hosts reeling.

New Zealand’s innings came to a slide when they lost Ross Taylor on 93. Post his dismissal, the hosts could only add 21 runs to their total.
With 243 on the board, New Zealand knew that the total would barely put India under pressure given the form that they are in. The Kiwi bowling attack, spearheaded by Trent Boult, came out confidently hoping to perturb the Indian openers.

However, Shikhar Dhawan dispatched Doug Bracewell for three consecutive fours in the second over. The grace in the first two boundaries in the cover region and the timing on the third one past mid-on was indicative of Dhawan’s beaming confidence.

As Bracewell was leaking runs, Lockie Ferguson was given the ball to bring the barrage to a standstill. A maiden over from the speedster was enough to keep the Hitman in check who was yet to find his rhythm. After succeeding in keeping the runs in check, the Kiwis hit home when Boult got the free-scoring Dhawan out in the ninth over. Despite his fine touch, a half-hearted push ended up in a nick to Ross Taylor at first slip.

At 39/1, in came captain Kohli who received a welcome to the crease with a ripper from Boult. The introduction of Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi further helped their cause to make runs hard to come India’s way. Even the top two ODI batsmen in the world had to see off the quality spin bowling from the pair. However, the Indian batsmen came into their own when Bracewell and Ferguson were brought back into the attack. A quintessential Rohit, after a rather slow start, reached his 39th half-century.

At the halfway mark, India were in a comfortable position with 112 to chase having nine wickets in hand. Kohli, too, added another fifty to his ever-growing run tally. His 49th half-century invigorated the partnership as the pair brought up its sixteenth hundred-run stand. In India’s record books, this number comes second only to the 26 hundred-run partnerships of the memorable duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.

In the 29th over, the breakthrough for the Blackcaps came in the form of the Indian vice-captain. Deceived by the flight offered by Santner, Rohit stepped out of the crease looking for a big hit only to miss it completely. Wicket-keeper Latham was more than happy to clip off the bails and complete a stumping in the process. The Men in Blue faced another setback as skipper Kohli was on his way back to the pavilion thanks to a leaping catch by Henry Nicholls at cover.

At 171/3, India had two new batsmen in the middle. However, with 73 to chase in 18 overs, Ambati Rayadu and Dinesh Karthik had enough breathing space to settle in. The two, though, did not need much invitation and time to get going. With boundaries at regular intervals, India were well on their way to seal the series win in, as evident in the three games, commanding fashion.

With seven wickets in hand, India finished the game in fine style within 43 overs. Be it swing or spin, the Indian batsmen managed to find an antidote to whatever the Kiwi bowlers had in store. That this is only the second ODI series win for India in New Zealand, after the 3-1 win for the MS Dhoni-led team in 2009, speaks volumes about the calibre of the current Indian side.

With Virat Kohli being rested for the remainder of the series, Rohit Sharma will lead India in the 4th ODI on Thursday.