India have sounded an emphatic warning to World Cup rivals, taking out the final one-day international by 35 runs to complete a 4-1 series win over New Zealand.
Coming into the series, India were second behind England in the ODI world rankings and only eight points ahead of the Black Caps, who were third after an impressive 3-0 sweep of Sri Lanka.
India's convincing series victory away from home suggests they will mount a formidable World Cup challenge in June in England.
On Sunday, they demonstrated resilience and versatility, rallying from 4-18 to reach 252, using up all but one ball of their 50 overs. They bowled out New Zealand for 217 with 35 balls remaining.
Stung by an eight-wicket defeat in game four after being dismissed for 92 via swing bowler's Trent Boult's 5-21 masterclass, India decided to expose themselves to the same challenge on Sunday.
Stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said India regarded Thursday's Hamilton loss as a humiliation and he chose to bat after winning the toss to challenge India's batsmen against the swinging ball.
The new ball did swing and Boult shared four wickets with Matt Henry, as India had lost four wickets by the 10th over, raising the possibility of a second consecutive rout. The victims of the early onslaught included Sharma for two, Shikhar Dhawan for six and MS Dhoni, brilliantly bowled by Boult for one with a ball that angled in and straightened past the outside edge.
Ambati Rayudu rebuilt the innings with 90 from 113 balls. He had partnerships of 98 for the fifth wicket with Vijay Shankar (45) and 74 for the sixth with Kedar Jadhav (34).
India's total was boosted by Hardik Pandya's late 45 from 22 balls, including five sixes - three off consecutive balls from legspinner Todd Astle.
Conditions in New Zealand in February are similar to those India will encounter in England where the ball will swing and pitches might vary in pace.
"I think especially after the Hamilton loss ... we came together as a team right from ball one," Sharma said.
"After losing those four early wickets, all we needed was ... someone to take the game on and Rayudu and Shankar did that pretty well. That partnership was the turning point and the way Hardik and Kedar (Jadhav) played at the end was magnificent."
As the World Cup approaches, New Zealand face a major top-order problem with Martin Guptill and Colin Munro not regularly producing runs, although both are capable of big innings.
Kane Williamson with 39 and Tom Latham (37) generated runs in the middle order but the allrounders remain inconsistent.
