In the third game, played on Tuesday in Indore, India defeated New Zealand by a score of 90 runs to clinch a clean sweep. Rohit Sharma produced his first ODI hundred in three years while Shubman Gill extended his dominance with another beautiful hundred. At the Holkar Stadium, 680 runs were achieved as a result of batsmen from both teams illuminating the dead rubber. In order to get India to 385 for nine, Rohit reached the three-figure mark for the first time since January 2020 (101 off 85 balls), while Gill produced his fourth ODI century (112 off 78 balls).
The New Zealand top-order performed much better after two failures. Crucial partnerships were built by Devon Conway (138), but Shardul Thakur (3/45) and Kuldeep Yadav (3/62) frequently struck to finish the game off. After defeating Sri Lanka the previous week, it was India’s second straight clean sweep. Conway and Henry Nicholls shared 106 runs after Finn Allen (#0) were removed by Hardik Pandya (1/37) and 78 runs after Daryl Mitchell (1/37) was removed (24).
The Indian bowlers initially struggled without Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, surrendering runs as Conway threw the ball all over the place. However, Shardul was able to change the outcome of the match when he dismissed Mitchell and Tom Latham both for zero runs in the 26th over. With a cross-seamed delivery in his subsequent over, Thakur sent Glenn Phillips (5) packing. The match appeared to be losing steam as Conway was subsequently caught by Umran Malik (1/52) as the centurion pulled awkwardly. Rohit completed the play at midwicket.
Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/43) cleaned up the tail with their spin combination next. Prior to that, Rohit and Gill put up a ferocious 212-run opening stand while trading 22 fours and 11 sixes. On the eve of the game, Rahul Dravid made light of the fact that Indore’s favorable conditions for batters make it difficult for bowlers to get started right away. The legendary batsman had a point, and the New Zealanders who had been rolling over their shoulders for the opening 25 overs would have agreed with him. Every ball that Rohit and Gill’s bat touched at one time was either soaring over the boundary or to the other side.
In the eighth over, Gill scored 22 runs off Lockie Ferguson with four fours and a six, displaying the kind of form the 23-year-old has recently been in. The ball ran to the boundary without even the young player having to time it. He hit the short ball for an upper-cut six after three fours. The relatively inexperienced New Zealand bowling squad was unable to stop the Indian openers’ carnage due to the outfield’s quickness and the wicket’s flatness.
Both Rohit and Gill achieved their century in the 26th over. Three balls later, Gill reached the triple-figure barrier, becoming the third player in four innings to do so. Rohit had pulled away to deep square to reach his mark. Six bowlers were employed by New Zealand’s captain Tom Latham, and it was spinner Michael Bracewell who made the tourists’ first breakthrough. The ball kept low and spun before hitting the stumps as Rohit attempted to slog one out of the park. The partisan audience cheered his wicket and greeted Virat Kohli (36). The next over saw a missed shot, and New Zealand quickly struck again, ending Gill’s innings.
Ishan Kishan (17) didn’t appear to be at ease and opened his account with nine balls. The wicketkeeper batter’s time in the middle came to an end with a no from Kohli, who had run halfway. When Kohli attempted to play a big shot, he was unable to defeat Finn Allen at mid-off as New Zealand was able to hit boundaries and sixes. India, who was on track to score 400 or more runs, experienced the typical middle-order batting collapse before Hardik Pandya (54 off 38 balls) supplied the winning blow.
