Wellington: Abhishek Sharma’s record-breaking show powered India to a series-sealing win over New Zealand in the third T20I at Hnry Stadium in Wellington on Tuesday.
Abhishek was on an absolute carnage as he slammed his fourth T20I century, ending at 113 from 38 balls to help India gun down the 199-run target in just 13.2 overs with six wickets in hand. The victory helped India take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Apart from his fourth T20I century, this was Abhishek’s 11th T20 ton, which is now the most by an Indian player in the shortest format. He went past Indian veteran Virat Kohli, who slammed 10 centuries in T20s.
This has put Abhishek in third place among the players with most T20 tons, only behind Chris Gayle (22) and Babar Azam (13).
While Abhishek slammed another jaw-dropping knock, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, promoted to the opening role for this game, also impressed with 45 from 19 deliveries as record books tumbled and New Zealand bowlers faced the brunt of the Indian batters.
India smashed the highest-ever team total in a men’s T20I powerplay, hitting 118/0 in the first six overs. This has now become the highest-ever score for a team in a powerplay, going past the previous highest of Romania, who had made 116/0 against Serbia in a T20I in 2021.
The two batters made a mockery of the depleted New Zealand bowling attack as they went hammer and tongs behind the target. India also breached the 100-run mark in just five overs, which is the second-fastest by any team in the world, behind Eswatini, who had completed their team hundred in 4.5 overs against Mozambique earlier this year.
The Men in Blue also brought up their fifty off just 2.2 overs, which is now the joint-fastest by any team in the world. Papua New Guinea made a team fifty in 2.2 overs against Vanuatu; while Romania had also completed their 50 in 2.2 overs against Serbia.
It was a very tough outing for the New Zealand bowlers, who were already missing Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson due to fitness issues. Returning Kyle Jamieson and Matthew Fisher, and captain Mitchell Santner managed to take wickets, with Jamieson scalping two and other taking one each. Jamieson got the prized wicket of Abhishek for 113 in the 10th over, while Fisher accounted for Sooryavanshi (45) in the eighth over.
Jamieson struck once more later when he got Sanju Samson for 18, and Santner dismissed Shreyas Iyer for five in the 13th over when the Indian skipper holed one out on deep mid-wicket. But the damage was already done, as Tilak Varma (1) and Naman Dhir (4) took India home in the 14th over to win by six wickets.
Earlier, Daryl Mitchell’s career-best T20 score of 89* from 52 balls took the hosts to 198/3 in the first innings. The Kiwis were cruising well till the halfway stage of the first innings, as they were 100/2 after 10 overs, but the hosts seemingly ran out of steam as India also displayed good defensive bowling at the back end of the innings to not let them go past 200.
Mitchell’s innings was the highlight as he carried the New Zealand innings through and batted for the majority of the innings. He remained unbeaten on 89 from 52 balls as his scoring dropped a bit in the final few overs, while Bevon Jacobs made 39 from 23, but the final punch lacked from the Kiwis.
The Kiwis were at 123/3 after 12 overs as they looked for a final flourish, but the Indian bowlers adapted well to the conditions and bowled fuller and yorkers, as the straight boundaries here are long and the square ones are shorter.
Only 63 runs came from the final seven overs as India bowled good defensive lines. Four different bowlers were used for the death overs, and the visitors did well to keep a lid on the hosts.
India have now taken an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the five-match series, clinching yet another T20I series against the Kiwis.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 198/3 (Daryl Mitchell 89*, Finn Allen 40; Arshdeep Singh 1-33, Axar Patel 1-36) lost to India (Abhishek Sharma 113, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 45; Kyle Jamieson 2-45, Mitchell Santner 1-17) by six wickets.
(IANS)
