India race to a historic chase to seal T20I series in Wellington

Abhishek Sharma’s belligerent ton paved the way for India to take an unassailable 3-0 lead against New Zealand. 

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India openers, Abhishek Sharma (113) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (45), stitched together a powerplay display for the record books, piling on 118 runs in six overs as they chased down 199 runs off just 13.2 overs against New Zealand.

This marked the second-quickest chase of a 190-run target or more (with 40 deliveries remaining), second only to Estonia’s chase of 193 against Cyprus in 2024, which they completed with 42 deliveries to spare.

With New Zealand having scored 198/3 from their quota of 20 overs, India gave little room to the hosts in their response.

Abhishek was front and centre of the chase, scoring his fourth T20I hundred. His innings included a whopping 13 maximums, the most by any Indian batter in a T20I innings.

He was accompanied from the get-go by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who opened the innings instead of Sanju Samson, scoring a quickfire 45 runs off 19 deliveries. 

The duo put together 133 runs for the opening wicket off just 43 deliveries. 

“I think the key was pretty simple. It was just me and Vaibhav, just going to enjoy there for a bit, especially in the powerplay,” Abhishek said afterwards.

The groundwork for their approach was laid in the first over itself when both the left-handed batters combined to put together 26 runs for India.

“Obviously, the way he started the first over, Vaibhav, I think that was really special. And that was the plan for us, get the momentum for the team and then just keep going,” he added.  

While both the batters were eventually dismissed, India managed to chase down the total with relative ease, with six wickets in hand.

Earlier, Daryl Mitchell had led the charge for New Zealand, scoring an unbeaten 89 off 52 deliveries, the highest score for the batter in the shortest format of the game.   

Finn Allen (40) and Bevon Jacobs (39*) also put in important contributions with the bat. However, it proved to be too little to defend with for the hosts.

New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner opened up on the result, stating it was a tough pill to swallow. 

“Pretty tough to stop those guys when they're going. We have seen it before, we have seen it in the IPL. Obviously, witnessed it here in New Zealand tonight,” Santner said on India’s performance with the bat.

India are now 3-0 up in the T20I series and will next play against New Zealand on Friday, 30 October in Auckland.

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