That's it from our coverage of the 3rd and final T20I between New Zealand and India from McLean Park in Napier. Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Akshaya Krishna and scorer Manish Bishnoi. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from across the globe.
Ravi Shastri does the honors by giving the T20I series trophy to Hardik Pandya!
Hardik Pandya (India Captain): "We would have liked to win this game by playing the full overs but it is what it is. I had to attack. At some of point I felt that offence was the best defense on this wicket. It was important to go ahead in the powerplay despite losing some early wickets.
Game like this would have given opportunities to other batters as you don't get to play such games when your top 4 batters are out cheaply with a healthy total to chase. I am going home, will enjoy the series from there on a break with my son."
Tim Southee (New Zealand Captain): "It wasn't an easy wicket to bat. But it was a disappointing performance with the bat, to be honest. When we came to bowl, we discussed earlier getting early wickets and putting them under pressure. We tried giving our everything and took early wickets. We knew if we took early wickets, anything could happen, but unfortunately, the weather came in.
You don't know until both sides bat on it; it would have been an interesting game if both sides had batted. When the rain came down, there was some doubt about whether it was a tie. It could have gone either way, but we were pleased with how we attacked with the ball and put them under pressure. It's great to be back in ODI action against a top-tier team like India. I'm hoping for a good turnout in Auckland."
Suryakumar Yadav: "Really happy with the way things panned out. Would have loved to have a full game here but as Siraj said its not in our control. The pressure is always there and there is no fun batting without pressure. I'm just enjoying my batting and not carrying any baggage on my shoulder. The intent and approach will be the same in the ODIs. We just go out and express ourselves and that's not in our control [the weather]."
Suryakumar Yadav is the player of the series!
Mohammed Siraj: "The pitch wasn't an easy one to bat on, and I was prepared to bowl the hard lengths. They paid me dividends as I got wickets on those hard lengths. I prepared during the World Cups as I tried hard to bowl these hard lengths. I executed those plans here, and I am happy with that. I always keep it simple and bowl the hard length. We do not have the weather in control, but yeah, happy with the series win."
Mohammed Siraj is the player of the match.
A DLS tie makes sure that India takes yet another T20I series, this time by 1-0 after winning the second T20I by 65 runs. After an thrilling first innings where New Zealand managed to score 160 giving something to their bowlers to fight for, the Kiwis also got a very good start with the ball in hand getting 3 Indian wickets in the powerplay.
Indian openers Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant started in aggressive fashion but a good opening spell from Tim Southee and Adam Milne pegged the men in blue with quick wickets as Shreyas Iyer departed for a golden duck falling against the short ball.
ICC World number 1 batter Suryakumar Yadav played some good strokes but fell early for 13. Skipper Hardik Pandya steered the men in blue to a comfortable score with unbeaten 30 off 18 balls under his belt. Deepak Hooda remained not out for 9.
Tim Southee started well picking up a couple of wickets for 27 runs in 3 overs. Adam Milne was expensive but got the prized wicket of Ishan Kishan. Ish Sodhi had a poor day in the field but picked up a wicket to send back Yadav in the 7th over.