IND vs NZ: Rohit Sharma emulates MS Dhoni, hands winning trophy to youngsters | WATCH

The Indian cricket team led by Rohit Sharma defeated New Zealand on Sunday to win the three-match T20I series 3-0. When the time of celebration came, a rather beautiful gesture was witnessed as Rohit handed the winning trophy to debutants Venkatesh Iyer and Harshal Patel. The tradition is being followed in the Indian dressing room since MS Dhoni's time as captain of the side. Indian batter Virat Kohli continued to follow the trend when he was the captain and Rohit Sharma just took it forward from there. 

This was, however, not the first time Rohit emulated Dhoni's gesture. During the 2018 Asia Cup final, the Mumbai cricketer had repeated the same gesture. After beating Bangladesh in the final, Rohit presented the trophy to Khaleel Ahmed, the team's newest member at the time. Dhoni had started the practice while captaining Team India, and everyone noticed it right away after his maiden victory in the 2007 T20 World Cup when he presented the trophy to Robin Uthappa.

Rohit Sharma took over the T20I captaincy from Virat Kohli after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in the UAE. Kohli had announced before the commencement of the tournament that he would step down as India's T20I captain in order to manage his workload. Rohit played his first series as full-time captain last week against New Zealand and won it comprehensive by registering a whitewash. 

India vs New Zealand: 3rd T20I

As far as the match is concerned, India won the toss and elected to bat first in order to challenge and prepare themselves for the future. Rohit Sharma opened the innings with Ishan Kishan, who had come in place of vice-captain KL Rahul. The duo notched a 69-run partnership before Ishan was dismissed by Mitchell Santner for 29 off 21 balls. Rohit, on the other hand, went on to score another 50 runs in T20I cricket. He smashed 56 off 31 balls before he was removed by Ish Sodhi, who took a stunner to send the batter back to the pavilion. 

Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer scored some runs in the middle but they were both dismissed before they could start firing. Harshal Patel and Deepak Chahar came at the backend of the innings and scored 39 runs between them. India finished the innings at 184/7 in 20 overs. In reply, New Zealand were bowled out by a better Indian side for just 111 runs. Only Martin Guptill put some pressure on Indian bowlers but after his dismissal, the Kiwis collapsed like a house of cards. 

Image: BCCI/PTI