IND vs NZ, 3rd ODI: Kl Rahul's Ton Powers India To 296/7 Against New Zealand At Bay Oval

Rahul walked in at 62/3 and to put India in a commanding position with his fluent ton. The batting duo of Manish Pandey and KL Rahul notched up a solid partnership in last 10 overs to guide India to a big score

Mount Maunganui: India star 'No. 5 batsman' KL Rahul's run of form continued as he scored 112 off 113 balls to power team India to 296/7 against New Zealand in the final ODI at Bay Oval on Tuesday. Rahul walked in at 62/3 and to put India in a commanding position with his fluent ton. The batting duo of Manish Pandey (42) and KL Rahul notched up a solid partnership in last 10 overs to guide India to a big score.

Rahul has so far made three 80+ scores batting at No. 5 in four ODI innings this year. His hundred is 1st by India No. 5 batsman or lower since Dhoni's 134 vs England at Cuttack in 2017.

India lost an early wicket as Jamieson pierced through Mayank Agarwal's defence in the last delivery of his first over. It's not been a memorable debut ODI series for young Agarwal, courtesy his dismal form in the entire series.

Post his dismissal skipper Virat Kohli joined Shaw in the middle but his innings was short-lived as he has to walk back for a low score of  9 as he was caught by Jamieson. Bennett got the big fish to provide the breakthrough for the Kiwis and Iyer walked in to bat next.

Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw were batting together for the first time in international cricket and they batted well after losing early wickets to bring up fifty for India.

A promising innings from Shaw came to an unfortunate end as Colin de Grandhomme fired an accurate throw to the keeper - the young opener made the dive but fell short of his crease.

Twenty overs into the innings, India reached the 100-run mark with both Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul well settled. With back-to-back boundaries, 'in-form' Shreyas Iyer attained his 8th ODI fifty. Just as the 100-run partnership was brought up, de Grandhomme took a good diving catch to end Iyer's 63-run knock.

Hamish Bennett got rid of both Pandey and Rahul. Rahul walked back to a standing ovation, scoring a magnificent 112. Shardul Thakur attempted a big shot, with just 10 balls remaining but was caught in the deep for 9. Saini and Jadeja contributed with some crucial runs in the death overs.