'We are doing what we expect ourselves to do' - Sharma praises India standards after 4-1 series win

India defended 252 with a great all-round bowling effort, Yuzvendra Chahal taking three scalps and Mohammad Shami and Hardik Pandya taking two each as the hosts were bowled out for 217. No New Zealand batsman reached 50.

Bouncing back from a heavy defeat pleased Sharma, but to him the victory is more of an indication that his side are working to their potential.

"We are doing what we expect ourselves to do, and we are getting rewarded for that," said Sharma. "We aren’t trying anything different, just sticking to our game-plan."

Ambati Rayudu batted patiently as he dragged his side out of a perilous position at 18/4, scoring a priceless 90 and putting on 98 with youngster Vijay Shankar to ensure India reached the 200-mark safely. 33-year-old Rayudu finished as top-scorer in the series, with 190 runs at 63.33, and while Sharma was quick to praise the in-form man, he also didn't offer any assurances regarding a Men's Cricket World Cup spot.

"The way Rayudu batted, he took his time and stitched a very good partnership with Vijay (Shankar)," said Sharma. "The run-rate wasn’t that great for the first 30 overs but we still managed to get 250 which was a big positive in my opinion.

"It brings massive confidence to bat in a situation like that when the team is down, 20/4, and you have to build the team out of that situation. He’s (Rayudu's) played a lot of cricket and has been around for many years. He used his experience which is a massive booster for him going forward.

"I won’t be able to comment on the World Cup, who will be batting at four, it’s not my place to talk about it, but talking about the whole series and how he batted, he can take a lot of confidence from this series. He’s looking very good at the moment, I just want him to continue. We have five more games against Australia back home, so I think if he bats the way he batted it will be good for us."

India fielded a solitary specialist spinner in the concluding bout, Chahal, after having opted for a two-pronged spin attack earlier in the series. Sharma explained the reasoning behind the chops and changes, citing India's imminent World Cup campaign as a reason to try as many different combinations as possible.

"If the series was on the line we would have played with two spinners and probably three seamers," Sharma said. "We won the series after the third game so we wanted to try out various combinations which while help us going forward. That was the idea because in the World Cup you’re going to play nine games, semi-final and final makes 11, which is a lot of games.

"Anything can happen to anyone, injuries, out of form, and keeping those things in mind, we wanted to try out every combination we have as a team."

Winning 4-1 in New Zealand is a feat that Sharma described as a 'massive achievement', he being part of the India team that was on the end of a 4-0 ODI series whitewash there in 2014.

"Coming here to New Zealand and beating them 4-1 is a massive achievement from our point of view, teams have come her in the past and they have struggled. Particularly at home, they play very good cricket, so for us it’s a great takeaway, and winning a series 4-1 is never easy.

"Last time we came here we were trashed 4-0. We didn’t have a point to prove to anyone, we just wanted to play good cricket which we have been doing for the past 8-10 months now. New Zealand have got great balance in their squad, you saw today they bat deep, and they’ve got a quality bowling line-up as well."

Sharma also lauded the impact of spinning all-rounder Kedar Jadhav, an ever-present in the side during this series. He chipped in with 35 runs in the final ODI and notched the prized wicket of Kane Williamson.

"Jadhav always gives us that balance of being a second spinner. I consider him a proper spinner because every game you see he bowls five/six/seven overs and gets a wicket every time, even today you saw him get the wicket of Kane Williamson which was a crucial point. He was going pretty well at that point and things were going well from a New Zealand perspective. He came and broke that partnership and we’ve seen that many times."