5 Dec 2010

Indian cricketers thump New Zealand

3:26 pm on 5 December 2010

The Indian cricketers have won the third one day international against New Zealand by nine wickets in Baroda to seal the series

Gautam Gambhir hit his second successive century as India took an unassailable 3-0 lead, while it was New Zealand's ninth straight ODI loss.

New Zealand struggled with the bat, scoring just 224 for nine with James Franklin top scoring with an unbeaten 72, while Nathan McCullum made 43.

Stand-in skipper Gambhir then hammered 16 fours in his unbeaten 126 off 117 balls to help his side reach their target with 10 and a half overs to spare.

The fourth game of the five-match series will be played in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori says they knew 224 was never going to be enough.

He says it was really tough early on, the track got better and, with Gambhir leading the way, India played exceptionally well.

Vettori says they have to keep fighting, his top order needs to stand up, and hopefully that will happen in the next couple of games.