India defeated New Zealand by 48 runs in the first Twenty20 International of the five-match series on Wednesday riding a blistering 35-ball 84 from Abhishek Sharma.
In addition to Abhishek, Rinku Singh (44 not out off 20 balls), Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 22 balls), and Hardik Pandya (25 off 16 balls) also made significant contributions as India, asked to bat first, amassed an enormous 238/7.
With Glenn Phillips hitting 78 off 40 balls and Mark Chapman smashing 39, the Kiwis managed 190/7 in 20 overs in response.
In addition to Arshdeep Singh (1/31), Hardik Pandya (1/20), and Axar Patel (1/42), two wickets each were taken by Varun Chakaravarthy (2/37) and Shivam Dube (2/28) for India.
Earlier, India scored an impressive 238/7 thanks to a brilliant 35-ball 84 from Abhishek Sharma, who set the New Zealand bowlers on a leather hunt.
With eight towering sixes and five fours, the world’s top-ranked T20I batter showed no mercy, making the fielders look like ordinary spectators.
Even though Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 22 balls) was far from his best, he managed to score some runs thanks to Abhishek’s carefree batting and the duo put up a 99-run partnership off 47 balls for the third wicket. India ended their 20 overs in spectacular fashion, with Rinku Singh (44 not out off 20 balls) playing a meaningful knock.
It took Abhishek precisely five deliveries to set his sights on Jacob Duffy (2/27 in 4 overs) before the first of his eight sixes came out of the closet, even as Sanju Samson (10) and Ishan Kishan (8) squandered opportunities in between.
Abhishek’s strength is his incredible bat speed, and New Zealand’s attack lacked an express pace bowler to contain the southpaw and he got plenty of opportunities to generate additional scoring zones in front of the square because of his bat coming straight. Balls flew over the ropes as Kristian Clarke and Kyle Jamieson delivered at the perfect early 130 clicks on a featherbed.
Though Suryakumar looked rusty, two shots—a back-foot blast through covers off Duffy and a whiplashed six off Clarke behind square—did show signs of a classic Indian captain.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner attempted to slow things down and had some success when Suryakumar was holed out at long-on without getting the necessary elevation (1/37 in 3 overs).
Abhishek persisted in his mayhem and fell in the very next over when leg-spinner Ish Sodhi slightly decreased the length of his leg-break and Jamieson devoured it with his enormous palms.
Rinku faced enough deliveries in the end to have an effect, hitting Daryl Mitchell’s first and innings’ last over for 21 runs to help the side reach a big total.
