Ind vs NZ – Tom Latham, Ajaz Patel, Daryl Mitchell and Will Young on the win

“We talked about it after every friendly. We've been trying to back it up and I guess we'll finally do it here in Mumbai, on a completely different surface, one that would certainly challenge us with bat and ball – yes, we” “We're pretty happy,” Latham said at the postgame presentation. “I think just the ability to adapt to any terrain is the most satisfying thing.”

“We wanted to come here and try to get some shots off… and I definitely think we did that,” Latham said. “We were a little more aggressive with the bat, tried to be a little more proactive and also with the ball we tried to keep things simple, understand a little bit how India plays and just go for it.” “Them Guys chipped in at different times, which was the most important thing, and we’re really happy to be in this position.”

“Spin bowling is a bit about the rhythm and when you are in the rhythm, sometimes it's about making the most of it,” Ajaz said after winning the Player of the Match award in Mumbai, his native city. had accepted. “And when the conditions present themselves, you have to take action and really do something for the team.”

In Mumbai, Ajaz followed a score of 5 for 103 in the first innings and 6 for 57 in the second. On Sunday, he wiped out most of the Indian line-up – from numbers 3 to 8 – and said the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium stopped turning as much in the morning session on the third day, even though he had already dismissed Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan and Ravindra Jadeja for lunch.

“In the period after lunch it started to spin a bit more, which gave me a bit more confidence to throw it up and use my cunning and, I think, form in the air,” Ajaz said. “So, yeah, that’s all I tried to do – make sure I keep it simple, use my shape in the air and then try to stay one step ahead of the batsmen.”

Despite wickets falling around him, Rishabh Pant continued to attack Ajaz from one end. This made Ajaz bowl to Pant much faster compared to the other Indian batters as Ajaz felt he was “a little bit more outside the box for him”.

“I knew if I just threw good balls to him, he would probably send them out of the park,” Ajaz said. “So I had to make sure I came up with a new plan and something different and tried to stay ahead of it.”

“It's something you dream about and to come here and actually achieve it is very special against a world-class Indian team,” Mitchell told the host broadcaster.

“I have to trust my defense and sometimes it's about being really clear about where I want to score,” Young said. “And do it for as long as possible… When I know where I want to score and I can trust my defense, my head is a lot clearer.”

But it was Mitchell who nailed it as New Zealand toasted to a series win, not long after the women's team won the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last month.

“We're just a bunch of Kiwis taking on the world and we're very proud to represent our country,” he said. “We know how good India are – they have a number of world-class players – and for us it's about hanging in there, continuing to do what the Kiwis are doing and yes, we're very proud of this group today.”