India vs New Zealand 2019, 3rd T20I: 5 major talking points

#3 India’s big guns fail to fire

Dhawan was dismissed early

India arrived at Hamilton boasting of the novel opportunity to end their tour to the Southern Hemisphere without tasting defeat in a single series. Yet, they fluffed their lines as they lost the vital 3rd T20I.

On the day, India’s big players just failed to turn up and it majorly contributed to New Zealand trumping them.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was expensive with the ball and couldn’t control the hosts’ power-packed batting.

In the batting department, MS Dhoni and Shikhar Dhawan never got going and turned in timid displays. While the latter was dismissed in the first over, the former failed to guide his team home with the stage set for a flourish.

Moreover, India’s skipper, Rohit Sharma was scratchy throughout and ended up putting unnecessary pressure on the other batsmen. When the right-hander finally tried to increase the scoring rate, he fell to Daryl Mitchell.

Over the past couple of years, India has made a habit of standing up when it matters most with their high-profile players invariably coming to the party.

Yet, in the 3rd T20I, none of that materialized and the other players were just left with a little too much to do.