Colin Munro struck five boundaries and five sixes during his knock of 72

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Colin Munro hammered a sensational 72 as New Zealand skirted past India by four runs in the third Twenty20 International in Hamilton.

As a result of their victory, New Zealand also secured a 2-1 series win.

Being put in to bat first, New Zealand got off to a fantastic start as Tim Seifert and Munro amassed an 80-run partnership before Seifert was stumped by MS Dhoni off the bowling of Kuldeep Yadav for a 25-ball 43, which included three boundaries and three sixes.

Munro and captain Kane Williamson kept the runs flowing with a 55-run partnership, during which Munro sailed past his fifty, before he was caught by Hardik Pandya at deep midwicket off the bowling of Kuldeep for 72, which came off 40 balls and included five boundaries and five sixes.

Williamson went on to score 27 before he was caught by Kuldeep at short fine leg off the bowling of Khaleel Ahmed.

Colin de Grandhomme and Daryl Mitchell added 43 runs to the score before De Grandhomme was caught behind off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 30.

With Mitchell going on to score an unbeaten 19 and Ross Taylor making a quickfire 14 not out, New Zealand finished on 212/4.

Kuldeep was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets, while Kumar and Khaleel chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Chasing 213 to win, India were dealt a big blow on the fifth ball as opener Shikhar Dhawan was caught by Mitchell at deep midwicket off the bowling of Mitchell Santner for five runs.

India stand-in captain Rohit Sharma and Vijay Shankar made up for the loss of Dhawan with a 75-run partnership before Shankar was dismissed by Santner for a 28-ball 43, which included five boundaries and two sixes.

Rohit and Rishabh Pant added 40 runs to the score before Pant was caught by Williamson at midwicket off the bowling of debutant Blair Tickner for 28.

Rohit ended up making 38 before he was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell.

Once he was gone, India lost Hardik and Dhoni in quick succession.

However, even though Dinesh Karthik and Krunal Pandya smashed an unbeaten 33 and 26 not out respectively, India still ended up falling short of their target as they finished on 208/6.

Mitchell and Santner took two wickets apiece, while Tickner and Scott Kuggeleijn claimed one wicket each.

Munro was named Man of the Match.