Neesham, Henry rearguard lifts New Zealand to 285

Replacing Anton Devcich in New Zealand's line-up, James Neesham scored 57 off 47 balls to lift New Zealand to 285

James Neesham and Matt Henry added 84 for the ninth wicket to rejuvenate New Zealand after a mid-innings collapse had left them floundering at 199 for 8. It was an innings of three parts: on a pitch with true pace and bounce, New Zealand began brightly, and were 153 for 2 in the 29th over before losing six wickets for 46 runs in the space of 9.2 overs. From there, Neesham and Henry didn't just survive; their partnership rattled along at 7.52 runs per over and propelled New Zealand to a total of 285.

New Zealand's innings was looking like a repeat of the second ODI in Delhi, where they went from 158 for 2 to a final total of 242 for 9. Neesham, though, hadn't played in Delhi. He replaced Anton Devcich here in an allrounder-for-allrounder swap, with New Zealand possibly feeling they needed an extra seam option on a pitch with a decent cover of grass.

The first three boundaries Neesham hit were all played with a straight bat: twice, he showed the full face to hit Jasprit Bumrah down the ground, and then he brought in a late whip of his wrists to power Amit Mishra between long-on and deep midwicket. It showed he had worked out a sensible method to score runs at a time when New Zealand had only two wickets in hand. At the other end, Henry showed a sound defence when the ball was at his stumps - even though he often stayed beside the line rather than getting behind it - and excellent timing when he got width, slashing and punching Umesh Yadav for fours through point.

As the slog overs approached, Umesh's old failings resurfaced, as short balls followed wide length balls that allowed the batsmen to free their arms. In the 47th over, Neesham stood tall and pulled him through midwicket before slicing a wide-ish ball to the third man boundary to bring up his half-century. Henry hit him for a six and two fours off successive balls in the 49th over, and Umesh's already expensive figures took another hit. He eventually finished with figures of 3 for 75. New Zealand were bowled out with two balls still left to play, losing Neesham and Trent Boult in the last two overs, but they had already done India enough damage at the death, scoring 52 in the last 6.4 overs.

In less than an hour, New Zealand had effected a more-or-less complete reversal of momentum, though they may have still ended 15 or 20 short of a par total given the conditions.

On a pitch where the ball came on and allowed batsmen to play freely on the up, New Zealand's openers made their best start of the series. They were watchful initially, scoring only 12 in the first three overs, before Martin Guptill walked down the track to the first ball of the fourth and launched Hardik Pandya for a massive six over long-on, the ball remaining inside the ground only because it went towards the three-tier stand behind the straight boundary. That shot set the tone for an abrupt change of gear: Guptill hit two fours and another six - over long-off this time - in the next two overs, and Tom Latham joined him by pulling Umesh Yadav over the square-leg boundary.

Just when Guptill seemed set for a big innings, Umesh had him lbw, nipping one back just enough to beat his inside edge as he tried to play around his front pad to access the on side. Kane Williamson looked in sublime touch after his hundred in Delhi, timing a defensive push off Umesh to the straight boundary off just his second ball before easing Bumrah between extra-cover and mid-off. But he fell against the run of play, lbw trying to sweep Kedar Jadhav, who slowed his pace cleverly to strike Williamson in front of off stump.

Ross Taylor began scratchily, struggling to pierce the infield against Amit Mishra and Axar Patel, but having only scored 14 off his first 28 balls, he began to find some fluency, hitting two fours and a slog-swept six off Axar to move to 44 off 56. His partnership with Latham, who had moved to his second half-century of the series, had moved past 70, and New Zealand's score had gone past 150.

Just then, Mishra produced two beautiful, dipping legbreaks to have both Taylor and Luke Ronchi stumped. At the other end, Corey Anderson and Latham chipped Jadhav to fielders inside the circle. Mitchell Santner popped a leading-edge, off Bumrah, to point, and Tim Southee inside-edged Umesh into his stumps. India's openers may well have been preparing themselves mentally for a regulation run-chase, but Neesham and Henry ensured they would have to rejig their thought processes completely.