India beat New Zealand by 6 runs to win the third and final T20I and pocket the series 2-1.

India's bowlers once again played an important role to keep the runs in check and claim wickets in quick succession and keep the pressure on the opposition batsmen.

Last over and Pandya comes into the attack. Santner sneaks a single for a bye off  the first ball.

Grandhomme plays the ball straight to Pandya who drops the catch but there is no run there.

Pandya goes down in pain but is back on his feet. 

Grandhomme smashes Pandya's off cutter down to the mid-on boundary for a six.

Pandya follows that up with a wide.

Grandhomme gets a single and Santner is on strike to the delight of fans. 

10 needed off 2 balls.

Santner plays the ball straight down the ground for a couple.

Santner plays the final ball for a single down to third man. 

Bumrah brought back into the attack and strikes! 

Iyer takes a good catch to send Nichols back for 2. 

Kiwis lose their fifth as the run rate keeps climbing.

Grandhomme can take just one run on the off side to bring Bruce to the crease.

And Bruce plays it down the leg side to get off the mark with a boundary.

Bumrah bowls a wide and Dhoni does well to stop it from running down to the boundary. The batsmen take a single and that is two runs.

This is a dramatic finish as Bruce is run-out for 4. Silly cricket by New Zealand.

The Kiwis steal a bye off the last ball as they need 19 off the last over for a win.

New Zealand need 32 off 18 deliveries.

Chinaman Yadav gets the ball and Williamson begins the over with a single.

Williamson takes a silly single and is victim of Pandya's direct throw from mid-on.

New Zealand lose third wicket.

Another wicket down as Phillips is foxed by the wrong-un and is caught at long-on by Dhawan.

Grandhomme gets off the mark with a couple. 

And he ends the over with a cleanly struck 6 over mid-on. 

New Zealand need 50 off 38 balls but Bhivneshwar is giving nothing away here.

Phillips gets a boundary as he plays the ball over mid-wicket.

He gets another boundary down to third man.

Bhuvneshwar proving expensive here. 10 runs come off the over.

Chahal comes into the attack and Kohli has an attacking field, placing himself in the slips.

Williamson takes 2 runs to cover.

Chahal gets Williamson to take the inside edge but lucky for the batsman no damage done.

The run rate is climbing and the Indians have been very stingy with the runs.

Yadav fumbles in the deep and the batsmen sneak a couple of runs off the last ball of the over.

Bumrah comes into the attack and makes the breakthrough in his 3rd delivery.

Munro gone! This is not good for the Kiwis as Rohit takes a good running catch to dismiss the in-form batsman for 7.

Kane Williamson comes in to bat and gets off the mark with a single.

Glenn Phillips is the other new batsmen.

Just three runs and a wicket come in that brilliant Bumrah over.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar opens the bowling for India and Guptill gets off the mark with a single down to third leg.

Munro gets into groove from ball one!

He comes down the track and just sends the ball sailing over mid-wicket boundary for a six!

Slower ball, Munro gets an inside edge on to the pads and he scampers for a single.

Guptill plays and misses! A big cheer erupts from the crowd.

And Guptill fails to read the slower one and loses his stumps. He tries to go after the bowler but is bowled instead. 

New Zealand lose their first wicket. 

Boult bowling the final over and Pandya takes a single to start the over.

Lovely relay catch on the boundary to send back Manish Pandey.

Santner goes parallel to the ground to take the catch and has the presence of mind to throw the ball to teammate Grandhomme to complete the catch.

Dhoni comes to the crease.

Pandya not able to find the big-hitting yet and Boult has bowled superbly as just six runs come off the over.

Santner continues and Pandya and Pandey doing well to rotate strike.

Pandya now just swings his arms and sends the ball over and into the crowds for his first six.

11 runs come off the over for India with one over to go. 

Sodhi continues and starts with a wide. Pandey then smashes him over Santner at long on for a six!

Pandey trying to play and entertaining innings and is swinging his arms at everything.

Iyer now goes after the bowler and is caught by Guptill at long on. 

Iyer gone for 6.

Pandey chases the wide ball and lucky for him the ball falls just short of Guptill at mid-on.

Pandya gets off the mark with a single and India get to their 50.

Southee continues and Pandey drives the slower one through covers for a four.

The batsmen then do well to run the singles and twos and take off nine runs off the over.

Leggie Sodhi comes into the attack and gets some stick from Kohli.

He first starts with a short ball that is dispatched for a four and he follows that with a maximum!

Kohli takes a single and Iyer comes to strike.

Iyer smartly takes a single to bring Kohli on strike.

But Kohli plays it straight down the throat of Boult at mid-wicket. That is the end of Kohli's entertaining cameo as the crowd falls silent.

Manish Pandey comes to the crease and gets off the mark with a single to point.

Tim Southee is first change bowler and makes impact!

He sends Rohit and Dhawan back to the pavillion.

Santner does well to hold on to both difficult catches.

Kohli and Iyer get off the mark with singles.

Two wickets and four runs come off the over as Kohli plays the last ball of the over for a single down to the on side.

New Zealand on top of India here.

Santner starts off beautifully. He deceives Rohit totally.

Rohit then gets a couple behind square.

The batsman then gets a boundary straight down the ground and it beats the chasing mid-on fielder to run to the fence.

Rohit ends the over with a quick single.

Another 7 runs come off the over.

Trent Boult opens the bowling and Rohit Sharma sneaks a single down to leg side.

Dhawan plays and misses! WOW!

Boult shortens the length and Dhawan tries to take a single but is safe.

Dhawan swings, gets no control over the shot and the ball falls just short of Sodhi at 3rd man.

Dhawan then gets India's first boundary! He comes down the pitch and cuts the ball over cover and does well to beat Sodhi at third man.

Last ball is a dot.

Good start by Boult.

New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bowl first on the damp pitch in the final and deciding T20I in Thiruvananthapuram.

New Zealand have made one change with Tim Southee in for Adam Milne, while Manish Pandey and Kuldeep Yadav come in for India.

The match will start at 9.30 pm.

Playing XI: 

In some good news coming in from the stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, the rain gods have finally relented and the covers are coming off. 

So it's only time before we see some cricketing action in the series-deciding 3rd T20I between India and New Zealand. 

With about 90 minutes of play washed out, some overs may have been lost and a truncated match is on the cards.

The series is levelled at 1-1.

According to PTI, the groundsmen are trying hard to dry the outfield.

The series is levelled at 1-1.

The toss for the 3rd T20I between India and New Zealand has been postponed due to rain. 

The series is level at 1-1 and just like the preceding Australia series, where the series-deciding T20 at Hyderabad was washed out, there are chances that the winner-takes-all encounter against the Black Caps in Thiruvananthapuram could meet the same fate as rain is forecast by the Meteorological department.