India, Jan. 16 -- Former captain Sunil Gavaskar says he was quite surprised by how easily New Zealand upstaged India in the second ODI in Rajkot and denied the home team freedom to experiment with its combination in the third and final game on Sunday.

Daryl Mitchell's unbeaten 131-run knock powered New Zealand to a series-levelling win in the second ODI in Rajkot as the visitors chased a 285-run target with seven wickets to spare. The series-decider will be played in Indore. "I was surprised by how easily New Zealand got across the line because, before they started batting, everyone thought India would be able to make use of the slowness of the pitch," Gavaskar said on JioHotstar's 'Amul Cricket Live'.

"With their (New Zealand) bowlers,...