India defeated New Zealand by 46 runs in the fifth and last T20I at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
With the win, India finished the five-match T20I series 4-1, having already clinched the series with an unassailable lead by the third match.
How India Beat New Zealand?
Ishan Kishan’s thrilling maiden T20I century compensated for Sanju Samson’s familiar failure, and along with Arshdeep Singh’s five-wicket haul, led India to their 46-run win.
After India posted a massive 271 for five, thanks to Kishan’s (103 off 43 balls, 6×4, 10×6) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s (63 off 30 balls, 4×4, 6×6), the only question was the margin of victory.
New Zealand fought bravely in parts but were eventually all out for 225. For India, pacer Arshdeep rebounded
from his early struggles to take a brilliant five-wicket haul (5/51).
Initially, Arshdeep conceded 40 runs in his first two overs but then took four wickets in his next three overs for just 11 runs.
Finn Allen (80 off 38 balls) played a powerful innings upfront, but the target was always beyond New Zealand’s reach.
Allen, the top-scorer in the recently concluded Big Bash League, brought that form to the Greenfield Stadium.
The right-hander attacked pacer Arshdeep, hitting two fours and a six in the opening over of New Zealand’s innings.
In the second over, Allen hammered the Indian pacer for 4, 4, 6, 4, 4, making 23 runs in total.
Allen, reaching his sixth T20I fifty in 22 balls, fell to the returning left-arm spinner Axar Patel (3/33), ending a second-wicket partnership of 100 runs with Rachin Ravindra (30 off 17 balls).
Both Axar and Varun Chakravarthy (1/36) did a commendable job in containing New Zealand after the Power Play.
New Zealand’s chase faltered once Allen was dismissed, with wickets falling at regular intervals.
However, the full house was most entertained by Kishan on a sultry evening, who came in after the early departures of Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
Opener Samson (6), whose fifth successive failure in this series casts a huge shadow over his T20 World Cup prospects, fell to pacer Lockie Ferguson.
If a more ominous sign was needed, Kishan later also kept wickets, hinting at the Indian team management’s thinking ahead of the ICC showpiece starting soon.
Abhishek (30 off 16 balls) gave a solid start, but extra pace from Ferguson dismissed him as India went through a relatively quiet Power Play phase — 54 for two.
But those were the only moments of joy for New Zealand during India’s innings after the hosts elected to bat.
For the rest of the innings, they were dominated by Kishan and Suryakumar during their 137-run third-wicket stand, which came in just over 10 overs.
Kishan, who missed the fourth T20I with an unspecified injury, showed no rust, tormenting the New Zealand bowlers with his fast hands and nimble feet.
The left-hander began his onslaught, hitting Ferguson for a four and a six over extra cover and the runs flowed continuously thereafter.
Kishan reached his 50 in 28 balls with a four off Ish Sodhi, while Suryakumar, who completed 3000 runs in T20Is, reached the mark in two fewer balls with a six off Jacob Duffy.
Kishan, who completed 1000 T20I runs, was severe on Sodhi, scoring 29 runs in the 12th over, with the sequence reading — 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 6.
Suryakumar departed, stumped by Tim Seifert while charging left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner.
But that did not stop Kishan.
The Jharkhand player reached his century in 42 balls — a six off Santner took him to 97, and the next six brought up the milestone, which he celebrated jubilantly before melting into Hardik Pandya’s embrace.
Kishan’s second fifty came off just 14 balls.
From a team perspective, India scored 189 off the last 11 overs at an economy rate of 17.18 runs per over.
Kishan’s innings ended when he was caught at square leg by Glenn Phillips off Duffy, walking back to cheers and whistles.
Pandya’s strong hitting (42 off 17 balls) at the end ensured India surpassed the 250-run mark for the fourth time in their T20I history.
(With inputs from Agencies)
