Even as the Blackcaps slumped to a Twenty20 series defeat against India, opening batter Martin Guptill provided some consolation, becoming the highest international runscorer in the men's shortest format.
As India's KL Rahul failed to hold on to a lofted straight drive to mid-off, Guptill scampered back for the two runs needed to move his career total to 3228 - the most by any male batter.
Guptill was dismissed for 31 as part of the Blackcaps' 153/6, ending his innings at 3248 runs.
The achievement isn't new for Guptill, who'd previously held the record between February 2018 to February 2019, before he was overtaken by Indian supremo Virat Kohli.
But the reward is deserved for Guptill, who's been a mainstay of New Zealand's white-ball order since debuting in 2009, also sitting fourth on the list of Blackcaps' ODI runscorers.
"I guess it's a nice recognition of the hard work that goes into it," Guptill says. "But at the end of the day, it's all about the runs that I score for the team, contributions and things like that.
"That's the more pleasing thing."
Despite the achievement, Guptill, 35, acknowledges he'll have a hard time keeping his newly acquired record.
Sitting on 3227 runs in second place, Kohli won't catch Guptill this series, sitting on the sidelines until the second test against New Zealand next month.
But third-placed Rohit Sharma (3141) sits only 107 runs behind the Kiwi and could conceivably overtake Guptill in the series finale on Monday morning (NZ time).
"There's some great names in there, some great players," Guptill adds.
"Hopefully, I can stay up there for a little bit longer yet, but these sorts of things are meant to be taken over, so I'm sure in time they'll be taken over.
"It's been a great ride - twelve-and-a-half, nearly 13 years in playing T20 cricket. It's been a great ride and I've loved every minute of it."
Now 2-0 down in the three-match series, the Blackcaps now head to Kolkata, looking to restore some pride and avert a whitewash.
The match will be Guptill's last on the current tour, which also included the T20 World Cup in the UAE, so he'll return to New Zealand afterwards, along with the other white-ball specialists.
He insists the Blackcaps have the tools to bounce back from their recent losses to finish the series on a high.
"It's something we did extremely well during the T20 World Cup and something we pride ourselves on. We just haven't quite got the end of our batting innings well enough in the last couple of games.
"Hopefully we can sort that out in a couple of nights' time."
