India beat New Zealand by 46 runs to wrap up T20I series 4-1
Ishan Kishan’s maiden T20I hundred and Arshdeep Singh’s five-wicket haul guided India to a 46-run win over New Zealand in Thiruvananthapuram, sealing the series 4-1 and boosting preparations ahead of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup
Thiruvananthapuram: Ishan Kishan’s thrill-a-minute maiden T20I hundred compensated for Sanju Samson’s familiar failure, and the knock along with Arshdeep Singh’s five-wicket haul scripted India’s 46-run win over New Zealand in the fifth and final match here on Saturday.
India thus sealed the series 4-1 and wrapped up their preparations to defend the T20 World Cup title on a highly satisfactory note.
Once India made a massive 271 for five, riding on Kishan’s (103, 43 balls, 6×4, 10×6) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s (63, 30 balls, 4×4, 6×6), only the margin of victory was left to be known.
The Kiwis fought gamely in patches but eventually finished with 225 all out. For India, pacer Arshdeep recovered from his early struggles to take a fine five-wicket haul (5/51).
He had conceded 40 runs in his first two overs for the wicket of Tim Seifert, but then took four wickets in the next three overs for just 11 runs.
Finn Allen (80, 38 balls) played a powerful innings upfront but the target was always beyond the Kiwis’ reach.
Allen, the top-scorer in the recently concluded Big Bash League, carried that form to the Greenfield Stadium.
The right-hander attacked Arshdeep, hitting two fours and a six in the opening over of the Kiwis’ innings.
Soon, Allen smashed the Indian pacer for 4, 4, 6, 4, 4 in his second over to make 23 runs in total.
Allen, who reached his sixth T20I fifty in 22 balls, fell to returning left-arm spinner Axar Patel (3/33), ending a second-wicket stand of 100 runs with Rachin Ravindra (30, 17 balls).
Both the spinners, Axar and Varun Chakravarthy (1/36), did a commendable job in controlling New Zealand after the Power Play.
There was no real fight in New Zealand’s chase once Allen went back, with wickets falling at regular intervals.
Samson fails again
But none entertained a full weekend crowd more than Kishan on a sultry evening, who came in after the early exits of Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
Opener Samson (6), whose fifth successive failure in this series now casts a shadow over his T20 World Cup prospects, could not get going and fell to pacer Lockie Ferguson.
If he needed a more worrying sign, then Kishan later kept the wickets too, giving a hint to the Indian team management’s thinking ahead of the ICC showpiece starting in a week’s time.
Abhishek (30 off 16 balls) gave a solid start but extra pace from Ferguson did him in as India went through a relatively quiet Power Play phase at 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 treated with disdain 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, punishing the New Zealand bowlers with his fast hands and nimble feet.
The left-hander began his assault, smashing Ferguson for a four and six over extra cover, and the runs never stopped thereafter.
Kishan brought his 50 in 28 balls with a four off Ish Sodhi and Suryakumar, who also completed 3000 runs in T20Is, went past the mark in two fewer balls with a six off Jacob Duffy.
Kishan, who completed 1000 T20I runs, was severe on Sodhi, hitting the leg-spinner for 29 runs in the 12th over with a sequence of 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 6.
Suryakumar departed in between, getting stumped by Tim Seifert while charging left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner.
But that did not stop Kishan.
The Jharkhand man soon reached the three-figure mark in 42 balls — a six off Santner took him to 97 and the next one carried him past the landmark, which he celebrated with gusto before melting into Hardik Pandya’s hug.
Kishan’s second fifty came off just 14 balls.
From a team perspective, India made 189 off the last 11 overs at a rate of 17.18 runs per over.
The Kishan show finally ended when he was taken at square leg by Glenn Phillips off Duffy, and walked back to the hut amid cheers and whistles.
Pandya’s strong hits (42 off 17 balls) towards the end ensured that India crossed the 250-run mark for the fourth time in their T20I history.
