One needs to flip through the history pages to find out the last time India were battling to avoid being whitewashed in a bilateral ODI series.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men had lost the first four games in a five-match series versus Australia Down Under in early 2016. They somehow managed to win the last ODI in Sydney.

Captain Virat Kohli too would hope he and his teammates get their act right for a consolation win in the third and final ODI versus New Zealand at the Bay Oval on Tuesday. A 3-0 sweep will well and truly give the New Zealanders a sky-high confidence going into the two-Test series, which begins in nine days time.

The scorecards of the first two ODIs suggest India’s bowlers have struggled, barring a period or two in the second ODI in Auckland. But along with the bowlers, India’s top order too hasn’t found the going easy, with Rohit Sharma’s absence felt more than ever.

Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal did play their share of strokes, but their stay at the middle was for a short period during which they never looked to be reliable enough.

At the Eden Park the other night, where conditions assisted quicks, even Kohli and the in-form KL Rahul could score little. But more disappointing was Shreyas Iyer as despite showing a great deal of maturity and getting crucial runs in the previous matches, he played a rash shot that turned out to be one of the reasons behind India’s defeat in the second one-dayer.

Another striking feature is that India had arrived at Mount Maunganui a week ago leading the T20I series 4-0 and went on to drub the Black Caps 5-0, but now find themselves facing a 0-3 ignomination.

The series is already out of reach, but the Indians feel they can play the final ODI even more freely. “When you play international cricket, every game matters for every player.

“When you are 2-0 down, you can express yourself even more — your skills, your variations in bowling. Batsmen can play their shots, can execute shots and express themselves. That’s how we will approach it,” said Shardul Thakur on Monday.

While India have missed Rohit, with their batting order getting weakened, New Zealand’s top order has been rejuvenated after the disastrous T20I series. Ross Taylor has been in excellent nick, scoring a hundred and a half-century as New Zealand rode largely on his batting on their way to an unassailable 2-0 lead. “He (Taylor) is batting really well. Once he is set, he is able to play on the leg-side like he is God.

“I think we have to be very precise bowling to him. At times, we have had our chances. In the last two ODIs, he had skied up a few and we had our chances. Had we grabbed them, the game could have gone any way,” Thakur said.

New Zealand are in for a further boost as skipper Kane Williamson has recovered from his shoulder injury and is set to play on Tuesday.

“Thanks for reminding that Kane is going to play. But yeah, it’s okay. Everyone’s playing cricket here, I guess. It’s no different,” was Thakur’s reaction when asked about Williamson’s possible return.He, however, agreed that the Indian bowlers struggled against New Zealand openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls.