Men in Blue proved too good for New Zealand once again, winning the third and final T20I in Kolkata by a whopping margin of 73 runs to end the series with a 3-0 whitewash over the tourists on November 21.
Having posted a mammoth 184/7 in the first half, India dismissed New Zealand for just 111 despite a flat pitch and excessive dew around. The hosts also ticked off quite a few boxes on the day as they opted to rest the two heroes of their wins in the last two matches.
Giving KL Rahul and R Ashwin a break ahead of the Test matches, captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid brought in Ishan Kishan and Yuzvendra Chahal into the playing XI. There was a case to be made for the debut of promising pacer Avesh Khan, but the team management persisted with Deepak Chahar, who had struggled in the last two games.
Chahar repaid the trust reasonably well on the day, first playing a crucial cameo of 21 not out off just eight deliveries and then, after another iffy start, coming back quite well with the ball to end with figures of 1/26 off his 2.2 overs. But to keep an exciting prospect like Avesh at bay, Deepak needs to do so much more with the ball than he did in this series.
Chahal had more of a swift return to the side. Although he gave away two sixes notoriously flighting the ball near Martin Guptill’s arc, the veteran legspinner eventually got his man caught towards the ropes to end with figures of 1/26 off his four overs. Harshal Patel, who made an impressive debut in the last game, was amongst the wickets again and returned with figures of 2/26 off his three overs.
But the real star of the show was left-arm spinner Axar Patel. Operating in his usually accurate and skiddy avatar, Patel broke the back of New Zealand’s chase in the powerplay only, taking three wickets for just nine runs off his three overs.
With Patel almost making it a no-contest in the first six overs, India got a decent opportunity to try out the bowling of Venkatesh Iyer, whose three overs went for only 12 runs and he picked up a wicket as well.
Guptill, as he had done in the last two matches, kept New Zealand afloat with the bat, scoring another quick half-century (51). But once he departed, the Kiwis lost their way completely. Guptill finished as the only New Zealand batter to cross the 20-run mark.
Earlier in the game, India’s slightly unconvincing but eventually sufficient innings with the bat saw them make a total of 184/7, which was possible because of some crucial lower-order blitz from Deepak and Harshal, who made 18 off his 11 balls, hitting some important boundaries.
India started off magnificently with the bat, as Rohit (56) and Kishan (29) maximised the powerplay overs for them. But once the spinners were introduced, the hosts did lose their way a touch, as Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (0) and Rishabh Pant (4) fell in quick succession to the intelligent left-arm spin of Mitchell Santner. Soon Rohit also departed after a nicely compiled half-century, and it looked as if India would finish with a below-par score.
But then Venkatesh (20) and Shreyas Iyer (25) put the pressure back on New Zealand with freeflowing 36-run stand, from where Harshal and Deepak’s timely hits propelled India past 180.
Santner was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand, taking 3 for 27 off his 4. But the rest of the attack failed to put the breaks on scoring.
Brief scores
India 184/7 in 20 overs (Sharma 56, Kishan 29; Santner 3/27) beat New Zealand 111/10 in 17.2 overs (Guptill 51; Patel 3/9, Patel 2/26) by 73 runs
