New Zealand vs India, 3rd ODI: 5 unnoticed things from the game

A moment we have all been waiting for is finally here, as India has officially sealed their first Kiwi away-series win in just over a decade, wrapping up the third game of the ongoing series with a win by seven wickets. The result has helped the visitors gain an unassailable 3-0 lead with only two more games remaining.

Earlier, New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat first, indicating that the pitch would become slower as the day progressed -- a decision that was agreed upon by the Indian skipper Kohli as well. But despite the toss working in their favour, the Kiwi batsmen continued to have not much of solutions for the Indian bowlers.

If it was Chahal and Kuldeep who gave the hosts a hard time in the first two ODIs, today it was the pacers. While Bhuvi and Shami worked up their usual routine like clockwork, the added entry of Hardik Pandya happened like a bolt from the blue. Pandya ended up with two wickets and an economy of just 4.5 across ten overs, and in addition, also showed some sprightly moves on the outfield, including a mighty diving catch to pack off Williamson.

New Zealand thought they would have some respite as Ross Taylor (93) and Tom Latham (54) battled on in the fourth wicket, but India's recovery resumed as Chahal cleaned up the latter. The Kiwis' last seven wickets fell for just 65. Bhuvi, Chahal, and Hardik picked up two wickets each, while Shami got a 3-fer for himself.

In reply, India started well but soon lost Dhawan. Rohit (62) and Kohli (60) combined for their 16th ton-stand in ODIs, both of them racking up individual fifties as well. Though the duo was dismissed later on in the game, Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu combined to lead the charge all the way to New Zealand's camp without any further harm. India won the contest with 43 balls remaining, and Shami (3/41) was rightly adjudged man-of-the-match.

Let us now take a look at some of the unnoticed things from today's game:

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#1. Dhoni's rare absence from the XI due to injury

Dhoni missed the 3rd ODI due to a sore hamstring

As the coin-toss proceeded, the Indian captain, Virat Kohli announced his team's changes from the lineup that was fielded in the second game. As Vijay Shankar made way for Hardik Pandya, the bigger replacement was Dinesh Karthik - in place of none other than MS Dhoni.

As fans were left wondering why the sudden change was made, Kohli said that Dhoni was currently experiencing some slight troubles over his injured hamstring and that the injury was the reason why the veteran World Cup winner was sidelined. Interestingly, in an ODI career that began in 2004 December and has continued for the past 14 years since then, Dhoni has been sidelined due to injury only twice before, in ODIs.

The first time was in 2007, when he was rested for 2 ODIs against Ireland and South Africa due to viral fever, while the next time was in a 2013 tri-series in Windies due to hamstring troubles. The same problem has repeated now, and Dhoni has been rested once again.

All the more interestingly, Dhoni's injuries seem to come after six-year intervals -- 2007, 2013 and now 2019. It is expected that he will come back in time for the next game scheduled for 31 January.

#2. Indian pacers jolt Kiwis in the powerplay

Indian seamers have consistently picked wickets in the first ten overs

It is, without question, that Team India possesses one of the most formidable bowling attacks right now, irrespective of formats. It is by virtue of such an enormous presence with the ball, that India was able to win their first-ever Test and ODI series in Australia, just the way they did the same at an ODI series in South Africa before winning the Asia Cup in UAE - both in 2018.

The batting powerplay, as the name suggests, is a paradise for batsmen. But the way with which the Indian pace-bowlers have approached the whole powerplay situation is a novelty in itself.

This can somewhat be identified from the fact that Team India gathered their fifth and sixth wickets in the batting powerplays so far this series, earlier today. For the sixth game in a row, India managed to pick up two wickets in powerplays, increasing their tally to 12 such in 2019 so far, and a total of 63 powerplay wickets since 2017 -- the best by any team in the same time period

#3. Kul-Cha and the waterfall of wickets

The duo completed 100 wickets between them in ODIs

Just like the speedsters, India's very own wrist-spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal -- lovingly called "KulCha" by the fans -- is another reason why the Men in Blue are reigning supreme in the game. Arguably the world's best spin combo at the moment -- especially in limited overs, both Kuldeep and Chahal would easily walk into any successful side by virtue of their wrist-spinning brilliance.

Though Kuldeep remained wicket-less in today's game, Chahal added two more to his tally and in the process brought about an exciting record. The Kuldeep-Chahal duopoly is now 101-wickets tall, and their strike rate of 27.86 is the highest for any bowling combo to have crossed the 100-scalps mark.

Kuldeep picked 4-fers in both the first and second matches of the series and became the first bowler ever to achieve the feat in New Zealand, while Chahal has picked two each in all of the three games so far. Altogether, that accounts for 14 out of the 30 Kiwi wickets that the Indian bowlers have taken down, in the ongoing series

#4. Only the second time that Rohit Sharma was stumped out in ODIs

Rohit was stumped only 2nd time in his ODI career

India were going on well, after losing a comparatively early wicket in the form of Shikhar Dhawan. Rohit Sharma (62) and Virat Kohli added 113 runs for the second wicket and made sure that an Indian victory was on the cards before the maverick Mumbai opener decided to advance down the track in an attempt to hoick Mitchell Santner. But Santner was very well-controlled in his line and length, and flighted the delivery well apart from bowling it way slower, as Rohit missed his hitting line.

It was easy work for Tom Latham to remove the bails, and that, in turn, became only the second time in 193 ODI innings (and 162 dismissals) that Rohit was out stumped.

Only five Indian batsmen in ODI history have avoided being stumped, and they are Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Kaif, Mohinder Amarnath, Ravindra Jadeja and Robin Singh.

#5. Most ODI sixes for India in ODI cricket

Rohit Sharma has been in stupendous six-hitting form in the past two years

While the Mumbai Indians' captain will rue being dismissed so cheaply, he would also be happy with the fact that today's knock gave him yet another record and a good one too. Rohit's 62 runs involved three hits to the fence and two over it, and with the two maximums, he took his ODI sixes' tally to 215 -- an Indian international record.

Rohit Sharma now shares the honour of having hit the most sixes for India, with the legend himself -- MS Dhoni. The latter has 222 sixes in total but seven of them came for the ICC Asia XI across four innings, and hence Dhoni's Indian sixes' tally is also holding strong right now, at 215.

Both Rohit and Dhoni continue to be integral parts of the India side. While hints on Dhoni's impending retirement after the 2019 World Cup have been circulating, Rohit still has at least six or seven years left in his career. Both of them are still far, far away from the all-time record by Shahid Afridi, but here's to hoping that the rain of sixes continue -- who knows, maybe Afridi's record isn't untouchable as we are thinking right now.