Colin de Grandhomme smashed an unbeaten 28-ball 58 as New Zealand crushed India by five wickets in the final ODI at the Bay Oval on Tuesday, thereby clinching the three-match series 3-0.

Grandhomme came in to bat when the Black Caps, chasing 297, were 220/4 at the end of 40 overs. The big-hitting all-rounder took the game by the scruff of the neck by taking a liking to Shardul Thakur who went for 83 runs in nine overs as he smacked six fours and three sixes during his stay at the crease.

Besides him, opener Henry Nicholls set the tone of the chase with a well-paced 80 off 103 balls (9×4) with contributions from Martin Guptill (66) and Tom Latham, who was unbeaten on 32 alongwith Grandhomme.

For India, Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers returning figures of 3/47.

For India, K.L. Rahul scored 112 but his effort went in vain in the end as India lost with 17 balls to spare.

In their chase, the hosts were off to a flying start as Guptill and Nicholls shared a 106-run stand before Chahal castled Guptill with a beautiful delivery.

Back leading the side after an injury layoff, Kane Williamson looked good to continue Kiwis’ domination but a lapse of concentration cost him his wicket as he whipped a Chahal delivery straight to midwicket where Mayank Agarwal took an easy catch.

From a position of strength, New Zealand suddenly looked in trouble after in-form Ross Taylor (12) was caught by Virat Kohli at short cover off Ravindra Jadeja and in the very next over, Nicholls was caught behind off Thakur.

Allrounder James Neesham joined the steady Latham in the middle but could not last long as he smacked a tossed up Chahal delivery straight to Kohli at mid-wicket.

Grandhomme then took over and sent Thakur to the cleaners with Latham supporting him from the other end.

Earlier, Rahul continued with his prolific run in the ongoing tour as he smashed a brilliant century to help India set a 297-run target.

While Rahul top scored with 112, Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey made significant contributions of 62 and 42.

Put into bat, India didn’t have a great start as they lost opener Mayank Agarwal (1) in the second over itself.

Kohli, who came in next, did try to steady India’s ship. However, while playing an upper-cut, he was caught at the third man boundary after scoring just 9.

Opener Prithvi Shaw didn’t let the fall of wickets get the better of him as he kept scoring boundaries and looked determined to play a big innings. However, just when things looked to be getting India’s way, Shaw lost his wicket as he was run-out after scoring 40 off 42 balls.

Rahul and Iyer then came to India’s rescue and shared a 100-run stand to bring the visitors back in the game.

Iyer, who had a 100 and fifty to his name in the first two matches, scored yet another half-century. However, after playing a well-compiled innings of 62, he was caught at mid-wicket by Grandhomme.

Pandey, who replaced Kedar Jadhav for the dead rubber, came out with positive intent right from the word go and stitched a 112-run partnership off 113 balls as India went past the 250-mark.

Rahul, who scored his fourth ODI ton, got out in the 47th over while trying to up the ante and was caught at long-off. Pandey (42 off 48) also got out the very next ball while trying to go for a maximum against Hamish Bennett.

Bennett was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers as he returned with figures of 4/64 from his 10 overs.

Brief scores: India 296/7 in 50 overs (K.L. Rahul 112, Shreyas Iyer 62; Hamish Bennett 4/64); New Zealand 300/5 in 47.1 overs (Henry Nicolls 80, Martin Guptill 66, Colin de Grandhomme 58; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/47)

It was another special display of batsmanship from young Shreyas Iyer as he continued from where he had left against Australia in Bengaluru to take India home in the opening T20I against New Zealand at Eden Park on Friday. The visitors led by Iyer’s 58-run knock chased down New Zealand’s total of 203 with six balls to spare.

It was only poetic justice that Iyer took India home with a six off Tim Southee as the Indian fans in the crowd went berserk. But it wasn’t about just Iyer. He had the perfect second fiddle in Manish Pandey (14* off 12 balls) as the duo ensured they kept the required run-rate in check even after losing in-form K.L. Rahul (56 off 27 balls) and Virat Kohli (45 off 32 balls).

In the end, they need 18 off the last two overs. But Iyer wasn’t waiting till the last over and started the 19th over with a six. That was the end of New Zealand’s hopes as he then hit a boundary off the next ball to make it 8 needed off 10 balls. After that, it was a walk in the park for the visitors. The unbeaten 62-run partnership off 34 balls between Iyer and Pandey ensured that India took a 1-0 lead in the five-game series.

But, it wasn’t the start India would have wanted in the chase with Mitchell Santner sending back Rohit Sharma for just 7 in the second over. But Rahul and skipper Kohli kept the scoring rate going and the visitors looked well on course to overhaul the target before Ish Sodhi sent back Rahul, caught by Southee as he ran in from long-off to complete an easy catch.

Kohli left after a couple of overs as Martin Guptill took a brilliant catch running in at deep mid-wicket off Blair Tickner’s bowling. With both the in-form batsmen back in the hut and the scoring rate rising with every passing delivery, it was all about going for the boundaries and Iyer and Pandey decided to plan it out.

In fact, it was the Kiwi bowlers who looked clueless towards the end of the game as they failed to rein in the Indian batsmen, especially Iyer as Pandey was happy to rotate the strike and hold one end up.

Earlier, New Zealand started with a flourish, but the Indian bowlers – led by Jasprit Bumrah (1/31) – came back strongly to restrict the Kiwis to 203/5 in their 20 overs.

Colin Munro (59) was the star of the show for the hosts at the top, but he was well supported by skipper Kane Williamson (51) and Ross Taylor (54*).

Put into bat, New Zealand had a great start as opener Munro and Martin Guptill put on a 80-run stand for the first wicket. Both the batsmen took the Indian bowlers to the task as they scored boundaries at will.

It was all-rounder Shivam Dube who provided India with the first breakthrough when Rohit Sharma took a brilliant catch on the boundary to dismiss Guptill who scored 30 off 19 balls.

Skipper Williamson then joined forces with Munro and took the New Zealand score to 116 before the left-handed opener was sent packing by Shardul Thakur in the 12th over. Munro scored 59 off just 42 balls and his power-packed innings was studded with 6 fours and 2 sixes.

Colin de Grandhomme, who came in next, didn’t trouble the scorers as he was sent home by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja in just his second ball of the spell. However, those two quick wickets didn’t deter the hosts as Taylor and Williamson stitched a 61-run partnership and took the Black Caps’ total to 178 before the skipper was dismissed by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.

The small ground ensured that the Kiwis kept finding the boundary ropes with Taylor looking to lead the show in the death overs for the home side. While Bumrah did look his brilliant self and gave away just four runs from the 18th over and picked the wicket of Tim Seifert, Taylor looked to take Mohammed Shami to task in the 19th as he started with a boundary. But the senior pro came back strongly and gave away just 9 runs from the over.

Bumrah twisting his ankle in the last over meant that he didn’t look his usual self and gave away 12 runs as New Zealand had Taylor remaining unbeaten on 54 with a strike rate of over 200.

Brief Scores: New Zealand: 203/5 (Munro 59, Taylor 54*, Williamson 51); India: 204/4 (Iyer 58*, Rahul 56)