Iyer: 'We had the belief even though we didn't get that many runs'

After India beat New Zealand in the fifth ODI in Mount Maunganui to take the five-match series 3-1, their stand-in captain Shreyas Iyer said that while the batting didn't click for both sides, the bowlers were consistent in what was a series dominated by them. In the four completed games, India posted more than 200 just once, and none of their batters scored 100 runs in the series.

"Batting, definitely, neither ours nor theirs clicked. But both bowling units consistently did well," Iyer said. "And the wickets were predominantly bowler-supporting as well. But the most important thing for us was to win the series - and we won. We don't think much about the rest.

"Definitely, there will be takeaways. Every individual will reflect on themselves. We have been playing for a long time. So if you play a long series, you get exhausted mentally. Adaptability is a challenge for every wicket as well. But you keep learning, and definitely you accept the challenge and move on."

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Iyer said, "It wasn't a series for batsmen." Will Young's 162 runs in four innings were the most by a batter, and his 125 in the fourth ODI was the only century of the series. Even that came after he was dropped twice early in his innings.

While India were without Jasprit Bumrah for the series, Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav played just one game each. That left India with inexperienced Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Anshul Kamboj and Yash Thakur to bank on with the ball.

Brar took nine wickets and was named the Player of the Series, while Nabi and Kamboj finished with five and four wickets, respectively. Arshdeep Singh, who played every game, got eight wickets.

Iyer said that while India's back-up bowlers' performances highlighted the depth of their bowling attack, plenty of squad changes throughout the series was challenging.

"At some point of time, it becomes challenging for the players when there's chopping and changing," he said. "They need to acclimatise to the conditions and adapt. But we didn't want to give any excuse. We just wanted to live up to our expectations, and every individual was just willing to come out here and give their best."

The ODI series win followed a 3-2 win in the T20Is, in which India were also led by Iyer. He said the conditions, which were entirely different to those back in India, and the changing weather made it challenging for India, as the first two ODIs were shortened due to rain, while the third ODI was entirely washed out after the toss. But Iyer was proud of the "great achievement".

"Coming over here, we are provided with different conditions, the weather kept changing, [and we were] faced with a lot of challenges," he said. "Coming out triumphant, I think it's a great achievement, and today, we had that certain kind of belief even though we didn't get that many runs in batting.

"But still we were hoping that we could change the game at any point of time, and I'm glad that every individual thought in the same direction and we were able to execute that."