Team India registered
a thumping win of 73 runs against New Zealand at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, and
recorded a second consecutive whitewash over the Black Caps in the bilateral
series. Axar Patel won the player of the match award for his brilliant bowling
performance of 3/9.

Winning the toss and
batting first proved to be a good move by skipper Rohit Sharma as India
provided a solid start in the powerplay but the scoring slowed down as Mitchell
Santner picked three quick wickets. It was a late blitz from all-rounder
Harshal Patel and Deepak Chahar that India posted a total of 184 runs on the
board.

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Harshal Patel’s
contribution of 18 runs in 11 balls includes two boundaries and a maximum, but
his hit-wicket dismissal was the talk of his innings.

In the 19th over of
Lokie Ferguson, Harshal Patel managed to smash the first ball over long-off for
a maximum but in the third ball of the over he tried to slash over point a
delivery that was wide outside the off-stump but missed it completely and ended
up hitting the stumps with his bat. This is the second time an India batsman
has been dismissed hit wicket in T20Is. KL Rahul was first to be dismissed in
the same fashion in T20Is.

Also Read: India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I in numbers

Watch the video here:

Earlier, Rohit scored his second fifty in the series and won the player of the series award.

Now, both teams will
face each other in two Test matches. The teams will land in Kanpur for the
first Test match, which starts on November 25. New Zealand’s tour will end at
Wankhede stadium, where the second Test will be played from December 3 to 7.

Also Read: Rohit Sharma becomes 2nd batter to hit 150 sixes in T20 Internationals

For the first Test
match, Ajinkya Rahane will lead the Indian team and regular captain Virat Kohli
will join for the second Test match. After taking a break from the T20I series,
skipper Kane Williamson will join the New Zealand team for the Test matches.