New Zealand's Colin Munro was again out cheaply against India at Bay Oval in the third ODI.

Legspinning all-rounder Todd Astle has been given his chance to stake a World Cup claim - and make New Zealand competitive against India.

Astle and Jimmy Neesham have been brought into the Black Caps squad for the remaining two games in the ODI series against India, replacing Ish Sodhi and Doug Bracewell.

Astle, who has been recovering from a knee injury which forced him home from New Zealand's away series against Pakistan in November, is capable of batting at No 7 in a side desperate for runs.

PHOTOSPORT India's captain Virat Kohli helped guide his side to a convincing series win, scoring 60 runs.

​Neesham starred with bat and ball on his return to the national side in the ODI series versus Sri Lanka but missed the first three games against India with a hamstring strain.

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* Recap: India thrash NZ

* Scoreboard: NZ v India

* NZ ponder spin twins

The Black Caps were soundly beaten at Mount Maunganui's Bay Oval on Monday, handing the visitors victory in the five-game series.

India triumphed under lights by seven wickets with seven overs in hand - their third successive dominant win over the hosts.

GETTY IMAGES Colin Munro trudges slowly off after being caught at slip by India's Shikhar Dhawan.

The two sides now head to Hamilton for game four on Thursday, with the final encounter in the capital on Sunday, but it's form rather than formula that has the Black Caps floundering.

New Zealand's problems start at the top.

Opener Colin Munro's latest failure has made his place in the side almost untenable – and means New Zealand's World Cup plans are likely to require a re-think.

Munro made an awful seven off nine balls on Monday and it was a brief, frightening display of how out-of-form and bereft of confidence the left-hander is.

Munro has just one score over 50 in his last 15 ODI appearances, averaging 19.27 during that time. In his ODI career, he averages 25.31 from 49 games.

They're alarming numbers as New Zealand uses the home summer's ODIs against Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh to fine-tune their approach for the World Cup in England and Wales starting in late May.

GETTY IMAGES Colin Munro hits out against India's Mohammed Shami during his brief stay at the crease.

At his best, Munro is a devastating bat, capable of changing a game's momentum in a handful of overs. But there are serious questions if his technique and gameplan are equipped to deal with the world's best ODI teams and bowlers at the top of the order. Only two of his seven career ODI half-centuries have come against teams currently ranked above New Zealand.

To add to New Zealand's problems, Munro's fellow opener Martin Guptill isn't filling Black Caps fans with an overwhelming sense of confidence either – after a couple of sweetly-struck boundaries, he edged a straight one from Kumar through to Kartik to be dismissed for 13 off 15 balls.

AP India's Mohammad Shami, centre, is congratulated by Virat Kohli, right, after removing Colin Munro.

​Guptill started the year with a blistering century at the same venue against Sri Lanka but has followed that with scores of 13, 2, 1, 5, 15 and Monday's 13.

Ross Taylor top-scored for the hosts with a gritty, if not fluent, 93 off 106 balls as New Zealand were dismissed for 243 in 49 overs after skipper Kane Williamson won the toss.

Taylor struggled painfully against spin early in his innings and it appeared his travails put pressure on Williamson to try and get New Zealand's score moving at pace.

That may have resulted in the skipper's demise as he danced down the track to Yuzvendra Chahal and lofted him with the object of beating midwicket, only for Hardik Pandya to spring goalkeeper-like to his left and pull in a fine catch.

GETTY IMAGES India's Bhuveneshwar Kumar captured the wicket of struggling Black Caps opener Martin Guptill.

Tom Latham, much more comfortable against spin than his fourth-wicket partner, helped resurrect the innings in making 51 off 64 balls as he and Taylor put on 119 together.

He fell the ball after bringing up his half-century and while he's an option to replace Munro at the top of the order, it seems an unwise switch given the necessity for his skills in the middle overs against the turners and tweakers.

Taylor went past 10,000 List A runs during his innings – just the fifth Kiwi to reach the milestone – but struggled to get the strike in the last 10 overs as hopes of a defendable tally of 270 faded.

Seven short of a century, he tried to run a delivery from Mohammed Shami down to third man but instead thick-edged it through to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.

Taylor surprised everyone by choosing to review the 'out' decision, which was quickly confirmed by the TV umpire. But New Zealand's top-scorer did also clip his pad with his bat, and with a review in hand, a look at the no-ball was probably worth the move.

India's spinners, the architects of their first two victories, took a back seat on Monday as Shami shone. The reliable new-ball weapon took 3-41 off nine overs while Pandya, included after his brief trip back to India, conceded just 11 off his first five overs and ended with 2-45 from his full complement.

India's run chase was guided by opener Rohit Sharma, who made 62 off 77 balls, while skipper Virat Kohli scored 60 off 74 as the duo put on 113 for the second wicket.

It was Kohli's last contribution to the series as the captain now returns home for a rest after cutting a majestic winning swathe through Australia and New Zealand.

Trent Boult (2-40 off 10 overs) was again the most dangerous of the home team bowlers.

AT A GLANCE

New Zealand 243 all out in 49 overs (R Taylor 93, T Latham 51; M Shami 3-41) lost to India 245-3 in 43 overs (R Sharma 62, V Kohli 60, A Rayudu 40no, D Karthik 38no) by seven wickets. India lead the five-game series 3-0.

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