New Zealand completed a series sweep on Tuesday after a five-wicket win over India in the 3rd ODI. Half-centuries from opener Martin Guptil, Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme helped set up New Zealand’s five-wicket win.
India posted a total of 296-7 in 50 overs after they were sent in to bat in the wake of loosing the coin toss. KL rahul scored his fourth One-day international hundred including two hundred-run partnerships to help anchor India’s batting innings.
Mayank Agarwall (1) and captain Virat Kohli (9) lost their wickets in quick successions but Rahul built the innings. He shared partnerships of exactly 100 for the fourth wicket with Shreyas Iyer (62) and 107 for the fifth with Manish Pandey (42).
India looked marching towards a total of more than 300 when they were 161-3 in 30 overs. But after only 49 runs coming from the last 10 overs they concluded the batting innings on 296-7. Rahul reached his century from 104 balls and was out with the total 269-5 in the 47th over.
New Zealand had a speedy start in pursuit of India’s 296-7. Martin Guptil gave the New Zealand’s team the start they wanted. Guptil scored 66 from 46 balls. This included his 50 which came from 29 deliveries.
Henry Nicholls made 80 from 113 deliveries. This included an opening stand of 106 runs with Guptil and a 53-run third wicket partnership with skipper Kane Williamson.
New Zealand began to lose their progress midway, losing Williamson, Ross Taylor (12) and Jimmy Neesham (19) in quick intervals slumping to 220-5 in the 40th over.
However, De Grandhomme and Tom Latham anchored New Zealand to the win with an unbroken partnership, finishing the innings on 300-5. De Grandhomme’s fifty came of 29 deliveries and he concluded his innings on 58 not-out.
“An outstanding performance, very clinical,” Williamson said.
Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took 3-47 from his 10 overs. It was only due to his spell that India managed to squeeze New Zealand between the 30th and 40th overs.
India’s key bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, went without a wicket in the series. He bowled a total of thirty overs in the 3 match series and gave away 167 runs for no wickets in return.
“The games were not as clear cut as the scorelines suggest,” Kohli said. “It boils down to those chances we didn’t grab.”
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