(Cricket news) India defeated New Zealand by 73 runs to whitewash the Black Caps in the 3 match T20I series. Rohit Sharma's first series as the permanent T20I captain was a convincing win and the skipper was named the Man of the Series for scoring 159 runs in the 3 games.

India once again won the toss but this time decided to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan started the game well by putting together 69 runs before Kishan was dismissed by Santner. The left arm spinner then got rid of both Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant cheaply to swing the game in New Zealand's favour. Rohit Sharma scored his 2nd consecutive half century before Ish Sodhi took a blinder catch off his own bowling to dismiss the Indian skipper. The Iyers- Shreyas and Venkatesh stitched an important partnership together. Adam Milne got rid of Shreyas while Iyer was caught after failing to pick Trent Boult's slower delivery. Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel fired some late shots to take India's total to 184.

Also read: My running days are over, says Akhtar before going for knee replacement

Martin Guptill started the chase very well, scoring 51 off just 46 balls. On the other end Axar Patel dismantled the Kiwi top order by getting rid of Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman and Glenn Phillips. After being hit all over the park by Guptill, Chahal came back strongly to get rid of the veteran on his return to the side. None of the other Kiwi batters got going and Ishan Kishan displayed some good quality fielding to inflict two run outs. Harshal Patel picked up two wickets while Deepak Chahar got one. Venkatesh Iyer was finally given the ball for the first time in the series and picked up a wicket. New Zealand were bowled out for 111 runs as India inflicted their biggest win against New Zealand in T20 cricket by runs margin. 

Shreyas Iyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel along with the coaching staff will join the Test specialist's team in Kanpur. India doesn't have a white ball game scheduled before January in South Africa.