IND VS NZ - 3rd ODI, New Zealand tour of India, 2017

Been a very enjoyable three-match ODI series with an excellent finale. Hope the T20Is live up too. No reason they shouldn't. So that's a wrap from all of us here. This is Sagar Chawla signing off on behalf of Vineet Anantharaman, Hari Prasad, Abhinand Raghavendran, Pradeep Krishnamurthy and our scorer Siva.

Here's a stat round-up for the day, by Deepu Narayanan

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* NZ in bilateral series deciders in India:
Mumbai(BS), 1995: Lost by six wickets
Delhi, 1999: Lost by seven wickets
Vizag, 2016: Lost by 190 runs
Kanpur, 2017: Lost by six runs

* Most consecutive bilateral series wins for India:
7 Jun 2016 - present (MS Dhoni/ V Kohli) *
6 Jan 2007 - Aug 2007 (R Dravid)
6 Nov 2007 - Jun 2009 (MS Dhoni)

* Smallest margin of win for Ind vs NZ (by runs):
1 Wellington, 1990
5 Perth, 1980
6 Adelaide, 1980
6 KANPUR, 2017 *

* The most successive bilateral series wins:
14 WI (May 1980 - Mar 1988)
8 Aus (Apr 2009 - Jun 2010)
7 Pak (Jan 2011 - Feb 2012)
7 SA (Aug 2015 - Feb 2017)
7 Ind (Jun 2016 - present) *

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Harsha Bhogle: Never underestimate the demons in the mind in a close game. India were the calmer side, New Zealand probably more tense.

Kohli collects the trophy and joins his team who are patiently waiting for the photographs. This is the seventh bilateral series win in a row for India. New Zealand ran them close, especially today, but yet again the hosts had the wares to pull off a cliffhanger. It's an excellent habit to cultivate and is indicative of a great team morale.

Virat Kohli, winning captain and Man of the Series: It was a pretty close game. Credit to NZ, they fought hard in this series and forced us to play our best cricket. Credit to the skill and character they possess. You've to tell yourself that the bowler knows best because he too wants to win the game. With the dew like it was, sometimes it feels even 22 fielders won't be enough. Glad the guys pulled it through. The wicket eased out in the second half, and it was coming on beautifully. It was good to bat even during our innings but it slowed down considerably. The aim is always to help the team win games, regardless of how many runs I score. Very happy we could get another one in the bag, and move forward to the T20s.

Rohit Sharma, Man of the Match: Feels good when your team wins and you contribute in it. Pretty happy with the way we played throughout the series. NZ were competitive throughout. We had to be at our best to win. After the innings break, considering the kind of threat they bring to the table, it's important to understand your game and play accordingly. Pre-match analysis helped me to see where my head was falling. My head was falling a bit earlier, not coming in line. Enjoy playing in Kanpur, have good memories. Today was a perfect day. There was lots of dew, credit to the bowlers who stuck to their plans. Every hundred is special. I was just trying to do certain things and it came out pretty well. Was talking to Sanjay Bangar about what was going wrong with my batting. When the things you do off the field pay off, that's very satisfying.

Williamson: Fantastic series. Some really good cricket played and great spirit. Credit to Virat and team, they were the better team, just. Lots of promising signs for us. Coming to this game, and coming so close is frustrating, but very good signs. The surfaces were good throughout. That's the nature of the sport, but you do need to be at your best to get across the line against these guys. One promising sign of note was our middle order. Tom Latham batted with such clarity in his mind, it was great to watch. Also Henry Nicholls. Ross is not new but he's playing nicely as well. Bowlers stuck it out as well. They performed well in most games. You look back on little moments, but at the end of the day, India played better cricket. You're always weighing up the balance of the side when you select it.

Stay on for the presentations..

Latham: It's been great. Last year, I opened and this year I kept and batted in the middle order. It's been a great year. Always nice to come here, unfortunately we couldn't get over the line. For us it was to take it as deep as we could. Against quality seamers - Bumrah and Bhuvi - just couldn't get there. The Indians played really well. We haven't got as close before. We were probably left with too much in the end. Credit to India. They played really well."

Chahal: "We needed wickets and whenever I bowled slow it spun. I wanted to make him (Munro) drive. After 4-5 overs, it was difficult to bowl. On this wicket, you have to flight the ball. So i had to toss it up."

Bumrah: "I mostly try to keep my head calm. I think that gives the best chance to execute. I should have gone to the stumps and taken it down (talking about Latham's run-out). It was good that I could hit the stumps. Similar thing happened in England as well, that's probably why he (Dhoni) was laughing. Just focus on the match and focus ball-by-ball and try to execute. I try to watch the ball till the end. I lock the ball and try to execute it. It was difficult to bowl because of dew. You have to back yourselves and I was trying to do that. This is how cricket goes. Cricket is a great leveler. He (Bhuvi) was contributing in the previous matches. Hopefully in the next matches we will be doing well. With the runs going, it was tough for him (Chahal). He was brilliant and hopefully he continues to do well."

You'd have thought that tons from Rohit and Kohli would have been enough to see New Zealand off. But what we witnessed was another spirited performance. There was another stage when they could have easily faded away - after that Chahal double-strike getting rid of Munro and Williamson - but India weren't ready for what Latham was about to unleash. He stunned the crowd with some sublime batting and yanked New Zealand back on course. Really, with 35 needed from 24, it was theirs to lose. But India showing how good they've become in these pressure situations. That's what makes all the difference.

Harsha Bhogle: Jasprit Bumrah has risen another notch as a top end overs bowler. Calm and effective

21:33 Local Time, 16:03 GMT, 21:33 IST: What a thrilling game of cricket, and what a fitting finish to this series! A game which New Zealand will look back on as a missed opportunity to register a historic series win in India. They had it with Latham and Nicholls going strong, as deep as the 46th over mark. Especially with Latham looking in other-wordly touch. But lo and behold, Jasprit Bumrah, India's best bowler all evening, came back and bowled a couple of spectacular overs at the death. The pressure he exerted was enough for New Zealand to descend into panic, causing them to blow a golden opportunity. Almost making it a habit to pull off these cliffhangers in India's favour. Excellent yorker bowling.

Bumrah to Southee, FOUR, aims for a hoick over mid-wicket, and skews it off a thick edge over short third man. It will not matter. India have clinched this series right at the death

Bumrah to de Grandhomme, 1 run, low full toss, pumped down to long-off. Another massive roar, as the game is now beyond New Zealand

Tim Southee, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Bumrah to Santner, out Caught by Dhawan!! Swings it in the air, but only as far as deep mid-wicket. Umpires get together to discuss the height of this full toss. It's well below the waist though. Huge roars as Santner is given the go-ahead to keep walking. He was almost taken by surprise by the full toss, and couldn't find any power behind his slog. Bumrah doing it for India. 12 needed off two. Santner c Dhawan b Bumrah 9(5) [6s-1]

Bumrah to Santner, THATS OUT!! Caught!!