India defeated New Zealand by 168 runs on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, their largest victory margin in T20Is, led by Shubman Gill's first century and Hardik Pandya's all-round performance. They scored 234/4, their fifth-highest score, but lost to New Zealand for 66 in just 12.1 overs, their third-lowest T20I score.
Ishan Kishan, India's opener, was caught legbefore by a flat delivery from Michael Bracewell when the team decided to bat first. Gill, on the other hand, made certain that there would always be runs with sublime boundaries. The Indian opener briefly slowed down in the middle overs, allowing his partners Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya to take the New Zealand bowlers down. However, in the second half of his innings, he picked up the pace once more. From the 16th over, he unleashed his big-hitting prowess against Ben Lister and raced from fifty to hundred in just 19 balls. Blair Tickner and Lockie Ferguson received harsher treatment later in the innings, allowing 23 and 18 runs, respectively, between two overs of 17 runs each from Lister.
With a 63-ball 126, Gill became the youngest Indian to score a century in all three formats and went unbeaten.
India got off to a strong start with a fifty-run partnership with Rahul Tripathi for the second wicket, despite losing Kishan early. In his first ten pitches, Tripathi only scored nine runs, but in the final powerplay over, he broke free against Ferguson. In contrast to Gill, Tripathi used more unconventional shots, moving around in his crease and even making good use of the leg side area behind the wicket.
He fell on a 44-ball 22 and pulled Mitchell Santner's half-tracker straight to the fine leg fielder.
Suryakumar Yadav, on the other hand, made certain that India's innings did not lose momentum even after he was dismissed. He started quickly and briefly experimented with the fielding, which is typical of him. Similar to Tripathi, his dismissal was unfortunate, as Bracewell made an excellent one-handed diving catch at midfield to dismiss the batter after he mistimed a hack.
Once more, New Zealand was unable to return to the competition. Hardik started out quickly, but Gill soon took over as his partner. Despite this, he hit four boundaries and a six before being run out on a 17-ball 30 in the final over of India's innings, ending a 103-run partnership for the fourth wicket against Daryl Mitchell.
In no way. Their challenge was stopped in its tracks before they could even begin. Their top order gave in to the new ball, Hardik and Arshdeep Singh each scoring four runs to leave the visitors at 9 for 4 after just 2.4 overs.
Suryakumar's feint reflex catches at slips helped India, but the moving ball was mostly the problem for New Zealand's batters.
Soon after, Umran Malik's speed wiped out Bracewell and knocked the top of his stumps, putting New Zealand in a difficult position. A 32-run partnership between Mitchell and Santner briefly brought the innings back to life, but it posed little threat. As soon as Shivam Mavi joined the fight, he got rid of Santner and Ish Sodhi, dropping them to 53 for 7.
Hardik returned for his second spell and ended New Zealand's innings by taking the wickets of Ferguson and Tickner.
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