Vadodara: Captain Gautam Gambhir hit a quick century to help India complete a nine-wicket series-clinching victory over New Zealand in the third one-day international on Saturday.
The left-handed opener struck 126 not out with 16 fours off 117 balls at the Reliance Stadium.
India reached its target of 225 with more than 10 overs to spare and took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
It was the second consecutive ton and ninth overall in one-day matches for Gambhir, who also scored an unbeaten 138 in the second ODI at Jaipur.
Earlier, it took a gritty 72 not out by James Franklin to lift New Zealand to 224-9. Zaheer Khan, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yusuf Pathan took two wickets each.
Scoreboard
New Zealand
Martin Guptill run out 12
Brendon McCullum c Vijay b Khan 0
Kane Williamson lbw b Patel 21
Ross Taylor c Saha b Khan 4
Scott Styris c Singh b Ashwin 22
James Franklin not out 72
Daniel Vettori c Singh b Pathan 3
Gareth Hopkins c Singh b Pathan 6
Nathan McCullum c Gambhir b Ashwin 43
Kyle Mills run out 15
Extras: (1b, 10lb, 15w) 26
TOTAL: (for nine wickets) 224
Overs: 50.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-19, 3-34, 4-49, 5-77, 6-96, 7-106, 8-200, 9-224.
Did not bat: Andy McKay.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 8-2-31-2, Ashish Nehra 8-1-38-0, Munaf Patel 10-0-28-1, Ravichandran Aswin 9-1-49-2, Yusuf Pathan 8-0-27-2, Ravindra Jadeja 7-0-40-0.
India
Murali Vijay run out 30
Gautam Gambhir not out 126
Virat Kohli not out 63
Extras: (5lb, 5w) 10
TOTAL: (for one wicket) 229
Overs: 39.3
Fall of wicket: 1-115.
Did not bat: Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel.
Bowling: Kyle Mills 6-0-39-0, Andy McKay 6.3-0-42-0, James Franklin 4-0-34-0, Daniel Vettori 9-0-41-0, Nathan McCullum 8-0-36-0, Scott Styris 6-0-32-0.
Result: India wins by nine wickets.
Toss: Won by India.
Umpires: Richard Kettleborough, England, and Shavir Tarapore, India.
TV umpire: Sanjay Hazare, India. Match referee: Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lanka.
Series: India leads five-match series 3-0.
