Scorecard
Zealand, Kane Williamson didn’t recover on time and Tim Southee led the side once again.
Despite Rohit’s return, Sanju Samson (2) continued to open the innings and it didn’t work again. Yet another opportunity went abegging as he hit straight to extra cover and was out for two runs. KL Rahul (45) and Rohit added 88 runs for the second wicket, providing vital momentum to the Indian innings.
The in-form duo dominated the Black Caps’ attack and put on 50 off just 35 balls. Rahul hit four fours and two sixes in his 33-ball stay.
He fell in the 12th over against the run of play and finished with 224 runs in the series, the most for an Indian batsman in any bilateral T20I series.
Sharma scored his 25th T20I half-century off 35 balls. He looked to accelerate but then injured himself in the 17th over and retired. The loss of both Rahul and Sharma impacted the Indian innings, and they lost all momentum on a slowing wicket.
Shreyas Iyer smacked 33 off 31 balls, including a four and two sixes, but couldn’t push the score past the 170-mark. Manish Pandey scored 11 not out off four balls, with a four and a six.
ROHIT INJURED
Stand-in India skipper Rohit Sharma did not take the field after injuring his calf while batting in the fifth T20 against New Zealand but teammate K Rahul Sunday said that “he should be fine in a couple of days”.
Rahul captained the side in Rohit’s absence. Virat Kohli was rested the final game of the series.
“Rohit Sharma i s bei ng assessed at the moment,” read an official update form the BCCI.
At the post-match presentation, Rahul said: “Rohit’s alright, unfortunate injury, hopefully he should be fine in a couple of days”.
Rohit, batting at number three, was retired hurt after injuring his left calf whilst hitting a six. He walked off the field in discomfort. He faced 41 balls for his 60, hitting three fours as well as three sixes.
India play the first game of the three-match ODI series on Wednesday.
KL Rahul c Santner b Bennett 45 (33) S Samson c Santner b K’leijn 2 (5) R Sharma retired hurt 60 (41) S Iyer not out 33 (31) S Dube c Bruce b Kuggeleijn 5 (6) M Pandey not out 11 (4) Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7 Total (for 3 wkts; 20 overs) 163 FOW: 1-8, 2-96, 2-138* (R Sharma, retired not out ), 3-148.
Bowling: T Southee 4-0-52-0; S Kuggeleijn 4-0-25-2; H Bennett 4-0-21-1; I Sodhi 4-0-28-0; M
Santner 4-0-36-0.
M Guptill lbw Bumrah 2 (6) C Munro b Sundar 15 (6)
T Seifert c Samson b Saini 50 (30) T Bruce run out 0 (3)
R Taylor c Rahul b Saini 53 (47) D Mitchell b Bumrah 2 (4)
M Santner c Pandey b Thakur 6 (7) S Kuggeleijn c Sundar b Thakur 0 (1) T Southee b Bumrah 6 (5) I Sodhi not out 16 (10) H Bennett not out 1 (2) Extras (lb 1, nb 1, w 3) Total (for 9 wkts; 20 overs) FOW: 1-7, 2-17, 3-17, 4-116, 5-119, 6-131, 7-132, 8-133, 9-141.
Bowling: W Sundar 3-0-20-1; J Bumrah 4-1-12-3; N Saini 4-0-23-2; S Thakur 4-0-38-2; Y Chahal 4-0-28-0; S Dube 1-0-34-0.
India won by 7 runs.
*India won the series 5-0.
5 156