Virender Sehwag hits out during the first Twenty20 match in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images

Virender Sehwag hits out during the first Twenty20 match in Christchurch. Photo / Getty Images

1 Sehwag's first three balls in NZ, Christchurch, February 25

The dashing Indian opener set the tone for the ODI series by lifting the first three balls of the tour, from medium pacer Tim Southee, into the construction site at Christchurch's AMI Stadium.

You could hear the crowd give out a collective "whoa!" as each ball whistled behind square leg to start the opening Twenty20 international with a bang. Ludicrously short boundaries, yes, but they cleared the rope by some distance. New Zealand won the match, but it was as if Sehwag, on behalf of India's batsmen, was clearing his throat for bigger things to follow.

2 New Zealand win in the second Twenty20 match, Wellington, February 27

The win came on the final ball, with the scores tied, when Rohit Sharma couldn't quite reach a miscued shot by Brendon McCullum running back towards mid-off. So New Zealand won the match, and took the series 2-0.

Terrific start for New Zealand and sign of good things to come? It could have been. Instead it proved to be a false dawn.

The attitude of India's captain, MS Dhoni, was interesting. Was he ruffled by his tam's poor start? Not at all. His message was clear: let's wait for the big games to come round.

And he was proved right. New Zealand sunk from then on. India rose to dominate the rest of the tour, save a solitary ODI at Eden Park when the series had already been lost.

3 Sachin Tendulkar's ODI blitz, Christchurch, March 8

New Zealand audiences wanted to see a final masterpiece from Sachin Tendulkar, always assuming he won't be around the next time India are in this neck of the woods. They got two.

The first, a sizzling 163 off 133 balls, came in the third ODI. And the second half of his innings was done with a sore stomach muscle.

He simply tore the bowling apart as India rattled up 392 for four, the equal third-highest total in an ODI between the major nations and the highest ever in New Zealand. Tendulkar hit 16 fours and five sixes - out of 18 the Indians managed that day - in his 43rd ODI hundred. Next best? Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya on 28.

His ability to manufacture shots that turned respectable deliveries into boundaries was stunning. This was not a good day to be a bowler. More than once, the bowlers wore that "what do we do now" look as decent deliveries whistled to the fence. Tendulkar has seen the look before. Brilliant entertainment, if you weren't a bowler.