It took Matt Henry six deliveries to reopen some old scars and offer a glimpse into the threat he could pose in the Test series. India had done well to ensure New Zealand did not post more than 333 after Will Young’s century and Finn Allen’s brisk 41 threatened a target of 400. But Henry shut the game in the opening over with a triple-wicket maiden that stunned India, who were blown away for 89 as New Zealand recorded their first win of the series, by 244 runs.

Henry had the top-order dancing to his tunes, squaring Rohit Sharma up off the very first ball as the edge flew to first slip. He extracted movement off the seam and beat Virat Kohli, before a back-of-length delivery kept incredibly low to castle India’s No.3, even as there wasn’t much Kohli could have done about that. Shreyas Iyer, India’s stand-in captain, was also done in by one that kept lower than expected and was trapped in front as a successful New Zealand review gave him his marching orders. One over in, India lost their three most experienced batters without a run on the board.

The exaggerated low bounce died down. If anything, Kyle Jamieson - and later Matthew Fisher - extracted steep bounce, while the ball continued to move off the seam. New Zealand continued to keep India in check and Jamieson had Ruturaj Gaikwad nicking to second slip. He should have had Axar Patel off the first ball, with the left-hander steering a short one to backward point but Nick Kelly shelled a chance. India’s score had not even reached double-figures at this stage and a mounting asking rate soon turned the equation into improbable territory after a 26-run Powerplay.

Kristian Clarke offered width on a couple of deliveries and was punished, with Axar starting to break free. But Fisher got in on the act, squaring Axar up with extra bounce as the edge flew to slip. Shortly after, Henry returned and had Kishan playing onto his stumps with a slower delivery and the rest of the innings was a formality, despite Naman Dhir striking consecutive sixes off Fisher. Fittingly, it was Henry who finished what he started, cleaning up Gurnoor Brar for his sixth wicket as India crumbled inside 27 overs.

Earlier, New Zealand lost yet another toss and were asked to bat again. While there was movement on offer with the new ball, the hosts got off to a flyer thanks to Tim Seifert’s breezy half-century, which took him just 39 balls. Young was dropped twice in as many deliveries in the second over, first by Rohit at slip and then by a diving Kishan with the gloves. And he made India pay, though it was Seifert who pummeled the pacers and peppered the fence at will. The Powerplay produced 72 runs, with Seifert scoring 51 of those.

Gurnoor removed Seifert with a short ball as Kishan completed an excellent catch having covered plenty of ground. A heated exchange between the bowler and the batter needed Kohli to intervene as the peacemaker, before Kelly was stumped off the bowling of Axar. While Axar was comfortably India’s best bowler on display, Kuldeep Yadav endured a torrid time that began with Young hitting him for a six early on.

The opener brought up his fifty and though Dean Foxcroft fell to Auqib Nabi, Finn Allen produced an impressive audition in his first innings in the middle-order. New Zealand accelerated through the middle-overs, with Kuldeep failing to land the ball in the right areas as Young used the sweep effectively. The carnage didn’t stop even after Kuldeep was removed from the attack as New Zealand raced past 200, piling up 55 runs from overs 26 to 30.

It was Allen’s dismissal to an excellent catch from Rohit at cover that averted the possibility of a total close to 400. Young brought up an 88-ball hundred and continued to take Kuldeep to the cleaners, forcing Shreyas to summon Naman Dhir into the attack. The move worked as Young swept one to deep mid-wicket, where substitute Kumar Kushagra clung onto the ball on the second attempt. Dhir then took a stunning catch in the deep to remove Michael Bracewell, forcing a slowdown as India managed to get into the lower-order.

Mitchell Santner struck a couple of sixes off Dhir in the 43rd but once he was dismissed, New Zealand couldn’t kick on at the back end. Clarke chipped in with a handy 22 that took the hosts well past 300, before the innings ended with consecutive run outs as they settled for 333 - a total that eventually proved more than sufficient.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 333 in 50 overs (Will Young 125, Tim Seifert 58, Finn Allen 41; Axar Patel 2-39, Auqib Nabi 2-59) beat India 89 in 26.4 overs (Ishan Kishan 27; Matt Henry 6-27, Matthew Fisher 3-31) by 244 runs.