Ashwin with career-best match figures of 13-140 helped India skittle out the visitors, who were chasing a daunting 475-run target, for 153 in under two sessions of play at Indore.

Ashwin, the highest wicket-taker in the three Tests with 27 scalps, was named both man of the match and player of the series.

India, who climbed to the top of the world Test rankings after their series-clinching win in Kolkata, remain in number one position ahead of Pakistan.

New Zealand, whitewashed in India for the second successive time after their 2-0 loss in 2012, suffered an early blow when Umesh Yadav trapped opener Tom Latham lbw for six.

The visitors took tea on 38 for one but lost nine more wickets in the final session of play.

“The bowlers have responded beautifully every time we’ve been in pressure. Someone has always put up their hand,” said Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

“And that’s the difference: this team is up, we get wickets in bunches. We have that attitude and we do get the results.”

Ashwin, who registered his 21st five-wicket haul in Tests, took charge in the evening session to remove skipper Kane Williamson for 27.

It was the fourth time in a row that he had dismissed the Black Caps’ star batsman, who missed the second Test due to a viral infection.

Ross Taylor showed some aggressive intent with 32 off 25 balls including five fours and a six, but did not last long before he was bowled by another Ashwin turner.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja soon joined forces with Ashwin to dash New Zealnd’s hopes of surviving the day after getting the all-important wickets of Martin Guptill and James Neesham.

Ashwin then disposed of the tail as the hosts celebrated their 3-0 series triumph.

Earlier in the day, a century by Cheteshwar Pujara had put the hosts on course to set New Zealand a daunting victory target at India’s newest Test venue, Indore’s Holkar Stadium.

Pujara struck an unbeaten 101 as India, who started the day on 18 without loss, declared their second innings on 216 for three in the afternoon session.

Pujara, who recorded his eight Test hundred, put on 76 for the second wicket with Gautam Gambhir (50).

“If you see Pujara hitting a fast bowler back over his head, it is the best example of expressing yourself. This is a proper team series win. It wasn’t just one individual,” said Kohli.

India had already gained the upper hand after bowling out New Zealand for 299 in response to their massive first innings score of 557 for five declared.

Kohli’s second Test double-century paved the way for India’s dominance as he registered his career-best score of 211.

The star batsman put on a record 365-run fourth-wicket partnership with Ajinkya Rahane (188) to keep the New Zealand bowlers on the field for close to six sessions.

“We wanted to show better cricket than we did, but full credit to India. They outplayed us in all areas and we have to weather these wounds,” said a disappointed Williamson. AFP

Despite Rohit’s poor form in the Tests, he has the confidence of captain Virat Kohli, who feels that the ODI specialist should be given a longer run to prove himself in the Test format.

The star Mumbai batsman, who holds the world record for the highest score in ODIs, could never settle down in the longest format during his delayed 18-Test career that began with a bang — with back-to-back tons against the West Indies in 2013 in India.

Considered to be a batsman with a wide range of strokes, Rohit has been in and out of the playing XI since then with consistency not his forte in Tests.

In the recent series against the West Indies in the Caribbean, he got a chance to play in two out of four games, one of which was washed out, and he mustered 9 and 41 in the two innings in the third Test at Gros Islet.

How much patience will the selectors continue to have on the talented but under-performing 29-year-old batsman at the Test level is a matter of conjecture.

Rohit also did not do well in the first innings of the ongoing Duleep Trophy final in Greater Noida after being specifically included in one of the teams — India Blue — following his return from the West Indies and the USA.

He made just 30 runs yesterday before throwing his wicket away.

With quite a few talented youngsters like Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Karun Nair waiting in the wings, the selectors will have a tough task at hands.

Another top-order batsman who has come under the scanner is Cheteshwar Pujara. He was dropped for the final Test against the West Indies, along with successful opener in past Test rubbers — Murali Vijay –, by the tour management.

Pujara grafted his way to 62 runs from two innings, but has since then answered the selectors’ queries with back-to-back hundreds in the Duleep Trophy and is likely to be included in the squad which, more or less, should be the same that toured the West Indies and won the series 2-0.

Ravindra Jadeja is another player who has been asked to play in the Duleep Trophy after getting just one game in the West Indies, in which he scored 22 runs and picked up three wickets at Gros Islet. He was dropped for the fourth and final Port of Spain game, which got washed out.

It could be a toss-up between him, Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav, who has grabbed 13 wickets in two games for India Red in the ongoing Duleep Trophy, and orthodox leggie Amit Mishra.

Mishra played in two out of four Tests in the West Indies, for grabbing two out of three spinners’ slots in the squad to support premier slow bowler Ravichandran

Mohammed Shami, the only Indian bowler to take more than 10 wickets against the Windies other than Ashwin, looks a certainty to spearhead the pace attack along with Ishant Sharma — the most experienced bowler in this lot.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur were the others who completed the pace quintet in the West Indies. But with the series being held in sub continent conditions, it looks unlikely that all of them will be a part of the squad.

As India have a lengthy spell of Test cricket, 13 games in all till the visit by the Australians in February-March, 2017, the selectors may also decide to go in for rotating the fast bowling resources.

A call-up for someone like Varun Aaron, now touring Australia with the India ‘A’ squad, does not appear far-fetched at some stage of the season.