The series had been clinched two games ago, but India ensured the scoreline read commanding and not close by defeating New Zealand in the final ODI to claim a 4-1 victory in the five-match series.
The visitors, led by Rohit Sharma in the absence of the rested Virat Kohli, rebounded from a resounding defeat in the fourth match at Hamilton with a 35-run win at Wellington on Sunday, 3 February.
The margin of victory was India’s biggest in a series in New Zealand, and second only to the 5-1 scoreline in South Africa in 2018 in terms of India’s biggest ODI series wins outside Asia (excluding Zimbabwe).
Cricketers and commentators past and present took to Twitter to congratulate Team India on yet another successful campaign:
Quite like the previous game at Hamilton, India found themselves in all sorts of trouble early on as the Kiwi quicks dislodged the top-order to reduce the visitors to 18/4.
However, unlike Hamilton, where they collapsed to 92 all out, the Indian innings at Wellington was revived through a composed middle-order effort – led by Ambati Rayudu’s 90, with Hardik Pandya’s 22-ball 45 providing the final impetus to take the score past 250.
As far as recovery acts from treacherous positions go, Sunday’s effort – statistically speaking – was only behind Kapil Dev’s iconic miracle act against Zimbabwe at the 1983 World Cup.
While it was a team effort on the field to restrict the New Zealand run-chase, MS Dhoni’s sharp run-out to dismiss James Neesham came in for special praise.
The dominating win put a fine lid to what was India’s final overseas tune-up to the World Cup in England. Prior to the just-concluded contest in New Zealand, India had also earned a come-from-behind 2-1 win in Australia.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)