Rajanish Kakade/AP
India’s Shubman Gill, celebrates scoring a century as New Zealand’s Blair Tickner watches during the third one-day international in Indore, India.
3rd ODI, at Indore: India 385-9 in 50 overs (Shubman Gill 112, Rohit Sharma 101, Hardik Pandya 54, Virat Kohli 36; Blair Tickner 3-76, Jacob Duffy 3-100) beat New Zealand 295 all out in 41.2 overs (Devon Conway 138, Henry Nicholls 42; Shardul Thakur 3-45, Kuldeep Yadav 3-62) by 90 runs.
New Zealand’s mostly second-string bowling attack was again no match for India as they were swept 3-0 in their ODI series.
Chasing a mammoth 386 for victory in Indore overnight (NZ time), the Black Caps were dismissed for 295 in the 42nd over, despite a terrific century from opener Devon Conway.
The left-hander made 138 from just 100 balls, as he and Henry Nicholls (42 from 40 deliveries) put on 106 for the second wicket, but New Zealand lost their last eight wickets for 101 as the size of the pursuit proved overwhelming.
The win pushed India to the top of the ICC men’s ODI rankings, with the Black Caps slipping to fourth.
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The 90-run defeat also meant the tourists have plenty of things to ponder ahead of the World Cup to be hosted in India later this year, even though they were without a number of their best players fo this part of their subcontinent tour.
At a venue with short boundaries, a New Zealand bowling line-up without Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Ish Sodhi looked powerless to contain the in-form home batters after captain Tom Latham won the toss and put India in.
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The home side’s tally was built on an opening partnership of 212 in only 26.1 overs, as Shubman Gill (112 from 78 balls) and Rohit Sharma (101 from 85) feasted on all New Zealand’s bowlers.
The visitors made just one change to the side hammered in game two, with pace bowler Jacob Duffy replacing Henry Shipley, but it wasn’t a happy day for the Otago Volts right-armer, who conceded a century from his 10 overs despite taking three wickets.
Big moment
The coin toss. Latham got the better of the flip, and after his side were ripped apart in pace-bowler friendly conditions in Raipur in the the previous encounter, opted to send India in.
After a few close shaves, mostly involving the skipper Sharma from Lockie Ferguson’s bowling, India accelerated rapidly and the Black Caps were only able to minimally slow the momentum.
Best with the bat
Conway lost opening partner Finn Allen to the second ball of NZ’s reply, but had no option of a careful rebuild when needing almost 400 to win.
He took to both pace and spin and hammered eight sixes and 12 fours and when in combination with Nicholls, gave the tourists initial hope of a remarkable successful chase but never got enough support before falling in the 32nd over.
Rajanish Kakade/AP
New Zealand’s Devon Conway hits out during his century in the third ODI against India.
Best with the ball
Medium-pacer Shardul Thakur took away any doubt of India’s path to victory, dismissing Daryl Mitchell with a bouncer when NZ were 184-2 midway through their innings. The next ball, he had Latham caught at mid-off and when he got Glenn Phillips hitting out in his next over, the result was assured.
Big picture
India’s depth is clearly greater than New Zealand’s – they were also without a number of first-choice bowlers – and the new ODI No.1 side will start favourites to win the World Cup as hosts in October, no matter what happens between now and then.
The Black Caps side for that tournament will be notably different from the one that played in Indore, but Finn Allen’s form is problematic for now.
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