India 155 for 2 (Abhishek 68*, Suryakumar 57*, Kishan 28, Henry 1-28) beat New Zealand 153 for 9 (Phillips 48, Bumrah 3-17, Bishnoi 2-18, Pandya 2-23) by eight wickets
A 3-0 series win with two matches to go, on the back of two players who are not in India’s first-choice XI right now, is as emphatic a challenge as any as India get ready to defend their world title at home; this series winning streak started before the said World Cup two years ago.
Harshit Rana took a wicket in the first over, Bumrah flattened the off stump first ball, and Kishan and Abhishek hit multiple boundaries in their first overs despite a golden duck for Sanju Samson on a night where India dominated their conquerors from Tests and ODIs.
Abhishek went on to register India’s second-quickest half-century in just 14 balls, almost mocking New Zealand’s plan to bowl at his pads and take away his room. Not as spectacular as Abhishek, Suryakumar still continued his comeback to form with an unbeaten 57 off 26 balls.
Harshit-Hardik blows
Perhaps tongue in cheek, Mitchell Santner said after the last match that you need 300 against “these guys”. Devon Conway wanted to start accordingly even though he had fallen to Rana four times in four innings on this tour. All he managed, though, was a mis-hit to mid-off, this time to an on-pace delivery. At mid-off, Hardik Pandya took a brilliant overhead catch, and in the next over created a much simpler chance for Bishnoi with a short ball to Rachin Ravindra.
Bishnoi, Bumrah take over
India are used to bowling at least one over of Varun Chakravarthy in the powerplay, and asked the replacement for the resting No. 1 T20I bowler in the world to play the same role. Bishnoi’s unusual action and trajectory conceded just one run in the fifth over to Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips.
Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets on the night•BCCI
At 34 for 2, you’d expect New Zealand to be forced to take risks against Bumrah in the last over of the powerplay, but Bumrah didn’t even need a risk for a wicket. He was quick and accurate, and the ball straightened a touch to have Seifert playing inside the line and losing his off stump.
Phillips and Mark Chapman had to play the first two overs outside the powerplay out before they took on Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube to reach 75 for 3 in ten overs. And then Bishnoi and Bumrah came back. Bishnoi had Chapman caught at the wicket with a 105kph non-turning delivery. Once this 52-run partnership ended at 86 for 4, wickets kept falling regularly as the batters had to keep taking risks. Santner’s 27 off 17 balls took New Zealand past 150, but it looked grossly inadequate on a good batting surface.
Kishan, Abhishek kill the chase
Any misgivings New Zealand might have had about the inadequacy of their total thanks to the first-ball wicket of Samson were dissipated by the blinding bat speed of Kishan, who dismissed Matt Henry for 6, 6 and 4 after getting one sighter in. Almost as if offended by someone upstaging him even before he had had strike, Abhishek charged first ball at Jacob Duffy, who followed him, but still deposited him over midwicket.
Abhishek followed it up with two fours. He and Kishan two added 53 in 19 balls, with Kishan eventually falling to a flipper from Ish Sodhi.
Suryakumar Yadav completed back-to-back fifties•BCCI
Abhishek, Suryakumar finish the job
When Kishan got out for 28 off 13 deliveries, Abhishek was on 23 off six already. Bowler after bowler tried to bowl outside leg to Abhishek, but he kept charging at them and backing away to go over the off side. By the time he got inside the line of one and pulled it over fine leg for six – just for variation – he had brought up his fifty inside the powerplay.
Abhishek missed his hero and mentor Yuvraj Singh’s record by two balls, and at 94 for 2, India missed their highest powerplay total by one run.
Suryakumar dominated the hitting and the strike post powerplay as New Zealand kept searching for non-existing answers. He played the signature flick over backward square leg, but was equally fluent on the off side. The last missing piece of a dominant side fell in place.
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
