A visual treat for cricket fans as the hosts trashed the Kiwis in the finale of the three-match T20I series on Wednesday (February 1), at the Narendra Modi stadium Ahmedabad. Skipper Hardik Pandya led from the front, picking four wickets.
The huge margin of victory – 168 runs – was the highest in any T20I involving two Full-Member teams. Gill started the second by becoming the fifth Indian to have scored hundreds in all three international formats. He scored a blistering century as India posted a mammoth 234/4 in 20 overs. India played the near-perfect innings around Gill anchoring at a two-runs-a-ball 126, and followed it up with the near-perfect bowling performance to bowl New Zealand out for 66.
A part of the credit for India’s display belongs to Tripathi too. He, and in part Suryakumar Yadav, allowed Gill to set himself up for a final assault and score just 16 off the first 15 balls he faced after the powerplay to get to a maiden T20I fifty. While Gill took his time in the middle overs, Tripathi, the intent monster, played around with bowling that wasn’t really bad. He scored 24 off the nine balls he faced in the middle overs. Suryakumar managed 24 off 13 including a slog-swept six off Ish Sodhi to leave India at 125 for 3 in the 13th over. Arshdeep Singh went one better in the second over, taking out Devon Conway and Mark Chapman.
The come-from-behind series win meant India maintained their unbeaten series record in all formats at home since March 2019.