NZ VS IND - 5th T20I, India tour of New Zealand, 2020

We've been pampered enough over the last week that anything lesser than a super over just doesn't seem fun. So what if this was a turnaround for the ages for the Indians, denying a RRR of just over six-an-over with seven wickets and two set batsmen out there. So what if this is what led to the 5-0 -- the first by anybody in a T20 series, ever. Yea, we've been spoilt for life. So this was me, Vineet Anantharaman bringing you this along with Nikhil Jadhav, Varun Dixit, Raju Peethala, Hari Sadanandan and our scorer, Vinod. Until the ODIs come over, where a tie will remain a tie, ta ta!!

Virat Kohli | Series winning skipper: All of us are really proud of the way we've played this series. I think the conversation we had was to always look to find ways to win. When it comes out, it feels nice. You don't want to see what happened to Rohit, but there were all these young guys playing well and handling the pressure. That gives me a lot of pleasure watching from the outside and they will take this momentum going forward for many years. Basically it is all about laying the vision in front of the boys, the way you think, prepare. The guys are taking notice of it and they realize that the team needs 120% from them every time. Because only then you will find ways to win. That has been a massive change for us in the last two-three years. We have seen the results; we obviously won't win everything and these victories give a lot more pleasure than the one-sided victories. Kane and me have similar mindsets, similar philosophies. It is amazing that despite being from different parts of the world, we have similar thinking and we speak the same language. Despite what the scoreline suggests, I feel that New Zealand cricket is in the best hands and he is the right guy to lead this team. He is the perfect, perfect man to lead them. I wish him the best of luck and power to lead this side in the future. They are a side everyone loves to watch and play against.

Tim Southee | Losing skipper: It's another close one, unfortunately on the wrong side again. If you give them a sniff, they take it with both hands. I don't think it is a massive gap, the scoreline does suggest that, but we only need to do the smaller things better. The ODIs are a different format, new personnel come in and it is a format where we have done well.

KL Rahul | MoS: Yeah, I am pleased. It is great to be standing here winning 5-0. Very happy that my performances could result in victories for India. We were happy to come into this series with confidence and to keep executing our skills every game. We came up with answers from every situation and it is a great result for me and the side. I am batting really well now and I am happy to do the roles I am doing for my side. Not thinking too much about the T20 World Cup at the moment, but hopefully I can continue batting this way. I think it is a winning habit that we have cultivated wherein we want to win every time we step onto the ground. As a team we keep believing in each other. It is unfortunate what happened with Rohit, but hopefully he'll be fine in a couple of days. Leading up to the World Cup, there were a few strategies that we wanted to try out. It just keeps giving us more and more confidence to keep going around. We'll relax a little bit over the next couple of days and enjoy the victory. But once we start with the next series, the process will remain the same. We want to win games of cricket every time we go out. The kind of cricket we are playing is fun to watch and we hope to keep repeating this.

Jasprit Bumrah | MoM: Feeling very good. The match got close at one point but we had belief that if we can squeeze in one or two good overs, the match can get close. It was windy, I was trying to use the wind and the longer side of the boundary. Very happy with the learnings, different ground dimensions, first time in New Zealand; great result.

STATBUZZ by the number-nugget Shashikant Singh:

Clean sweeps for India away from home (3+ match)
3-0 v Australia in AUS 2015/16
3-0 v West Indies in USA/WI 2019
5-0 v New Zealand in NZ 2020

Most bilateral series wins as captain (after 15 T20I series)
10 - Virat Kohli
9 - Faf du Plessis
7 - Eoin Morgan
6 - Darren Sammy
5 - MS Dhoni

Most runs conceded in an over (T20I)
36 Stuart Broad v IND Durban 2007
34 Shivam Dube v NZ Mount Maunganui 2020**
32 Wayne Parnell v ENG Edgbaston 2012
32 Izatullah Dawlatzai v ENG Colombo 2012
32 Stuart Binny v WI Lauderhill 2016
32 Max O'Dowd v SCO Dublin 2019

Most defeats at home (T20Is)
23 New Zealand (59th Match)*
23 Sri Lanka (40 )
22 Bangladesh (37)
22 South Africa (57)
21 Zimbabwe (24)
20 West Indies (43)

Harsha Bhogle: Must confess I didn't think it would be 5-0. Excellent as India were, New Zealand's back-up was found wanting.

23:41 Local Time, 10:41 GMT, 16:11 IST: The choke is real. The tag is real. They clearly had no business losing this. Surely not after they pulled things back with the ball to restrict the Indians to a seemingly sub-par 163. Surely not after India were rendered skipper-less with Rohit Sharma not taking the field. Surely not after what Seifert and Taylor and Sundar did to Shivam Dube. Surely. But that's what India have been doing on this tour, mastering the act of coming back from the dead, back from the burial ground. They can take credit, Bumrah in particular with figures of 4-1-12-3, breaking the top-order and then coming back after the Dube-carnage to sow the choke-seeds. And Saini and Thakur made sure they watered them enough for the certified tree to grow out. Hang around, the presentations are here ..

Harsha Bhogle: One of India's learning objectives was to win batting first. That has been the biggest gain from this series

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, 1 run, squirts an outside edge .. and 5-0. Third man will clean, KL Rahul - the newfound skipper - will walk over, knock out the bails, and India will inflict another daylight robbery. They've become so cocky that they don't even need a super over today

Harsha Bhogle: 3-12 in a 160+ run chase. Bumrah is back to his best. Love his calmness.

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, no run, booooooo. Damn you super over killer. You can't blame Thakur though, who's tried his best by dishing another one right in the slot -- that kind, good length, outside off, full paced. Sodhi tries to go over cow corner, swinging across the line. He should've tried extra cover ..

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, SIX, and again, mathematically it'll live to see another ball. Thakur for some reason dishes out length at full pace. Sodhi lines it up, swings hard and makes perfect contact in launching this over deep square leg. The Kiwis hang on, so what if only by the skin of their teeth

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, no run, yorker. Keeps it simple, and Sodhi, true to his number ten character, won't be able to lay bat on it

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, SIX, backs, swings, oh and he connects. Yea, look out cow corner, this one's actually coming there. Full paced, on a back of a length and Sodhi will clear out his front leg and swipe, big

SN Thakur to Ish Sodhi, no run, big ugly slog. Look out cow corner. If only he'd connected, if only .. Thakur's knuckle ball's a little too good these days

Shardul Thakur [3.0-0-25-2] is back into the attack

Bumrah to Bennett, no run, full, on off, Bennett will stretch it longer, courtesy his block

Bumrah to Ish Sodhi, 1 run, another yorker. Sodhi doesn't know how he's gotten his bat down to this, but he has

Bumrah to Ish Sodhi, no run, quick skiddy back of a length stuff, nipping back in big time. Sodhi moves away, tries to cut, and it's just too good

Bumrah to Bennett, 1 run, the usual - base of middle. Bennett can dig, down the pitch, and he has his first T20I runs

Hamish Bennett, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Bumrah to Southee, out Bowled!! It's worth making the Indian archery side proud -- and he doesn't even need a bow, his shoulder's good enough. Yorker's don't get any better, nailing them on the base of leg. So much so that Southee after backing away finds it too fiery, even cramping perhaps and just can't keep it out. Southee b Bumrah 6(5) [4s-1]