India beat New Zealand in a thrilling Super Over to win the third Twenty20 International (T20I) and register their first T20I series win in New Zealand on Wednesday. Rohit Sharma was the star for India as he smashed two sixes off last two balls in the Super Over to help India get across the finish line in a breath-taking contest. Before Rohit's magic in the Super Over, it was fast bowler Mohammed Shami who had kept India alive in the game by conceding only two runs in last five ball of the regulation play. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian skipper Virat Kohli accepted that half-way through the New Zealand innings he thought the match had slipped away from their hands but Shami bowled brilliantly to "turn the game on its head".
"I thought we were gone at one stage. Shami showed his experience and put a couple of balls outside the off-stump. On the last ball, we had a discussion and we came to a conclusion that we had to hit the stumps because otherwise there is a single anyway and we are gonna lose the game. Shami went for it, got the wicket and the game turned on his head." Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
Despite Shami's brilliant final over, the game once again seemed to drift away from India when New Zealand scored 17 runs in the Super Over but this time Rohit Sharma came to team's rescue, dispatching last two deliveries into the stands to hand India a thrilling win.
After the game, Kohli praised Rohit for batting with great composure under pressure and getting India across the finish line with two mighty hits.
"In the Super Over, New Zealand again put pressure on us. But Rohit was outstanding today, in the first half and in the super over. We knew, if he gets one hit, bowler will be under pressure because he is such a clean striker of the cricket ball," Kohli said praising Rohit.
Rohit, who had earlier scored a blistering half-century, was adjudged the player of the match.
With series already in the bag, Kohli hinted that India will look to give some game time to players like Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini, who have only warmed the bench till now, in the next two games but at the same time will also try to clean-sweep the series.