India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI:Kiwis wins series by 3-0

Mount Maunganui: New Zealand on Tuesday defeated India by five wickets to win the three-match series 3-0. Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme played wonderful innings and helped the Kiwis complete a rare clean sweep against Men in Blue. This is first whitewash that India has suffered in an ODI series in more than a decade.

The Kiwis had won the toss and invited teh Men in Blue to bat first on a pitch that looked suitable for chasing. The Indian team, thanks to brilliant century from KL Rahul (112) and a handy innings from Shreyas Iyer (62), scored 296 for the loss of seven wickets in their 50 overs.

The Kiwis, however, chased the target easily with 17 balls to spare thanks to a firey innings from Colin de Grandhomme (58) and a handy innings from Henry Nichollas (80).

The Indian team, after being asked to bat first, lost the top order early and were reduced to 62/3 (Mayank Agarwal — 1, Virat Kohli — 9 and Prithvi Shaw — 40) but KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer helped the Men in Blue recover after a shaky start.

Rahul, who hit nine fours and two sixes during his 113-ball innings, and Iyer stitched exactly 100 runs from 18.2 overs for the fourth wicket to revive the Indian innings.

After the end of the promising innings of Iyer, Rahul shared another 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (42).

The Kiwis were off to a confident start in their chase with Martin Guptill (66) and Henry Nicholls (80) and putting on a 106-run stand. However, wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets to bring India back in the game.

Colin de Grandhomme (58) and Tom Latham (32), though, took their side past the finish line with an unbeaten 80-run partnership.