India on Wednesday put the Kiwi bowlers to the sword as they scored a mammoth 234 in the final T20. It was a day to remember for Shubman Gill as he scored his first ever ton in T20I cricket for India. The 23 year old became the 5th Indian to score a century across all formats and became the 7th Indian to score a century in T20I cricket.
The game is of importance for India as they look to preserve their proud home record. The two teams came into the game after the series was tied at 1-1. New Zealand won the 1st game, while India made a comeback in the 2nd game.
Surya Kumar stuns the crowd –
Chasing 235 to win, the Kiwis would have hoped for a good start from openers Devon Conway and Finn Allen. Hardik Pandya though had other ideas as he took the new ball and made immediate impact. Finn Allen went for a wild slash off Pandya and got a thick edge. The ball was travelling to Surya Kumar Yadav at slip who jumped up like a football goal keeper to take a smart catch to dismiss Allen for 3.
Suryakumar Yadav has taken 2 similar catches at slips - excellent catch. pic.twitter.com/8EWY0uIxKd
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 1, 2023
Sky repeats the same feat in similar fashion –
Glenn Phillips was tasked with staging a fightback for the visitors as he has the pedigree of being a great T20 batter. Hardik Pandya and Surya Kumar though had other plans as they combined again. In a similar slash off a fuller and wider ball, Phillips also got a thick edge. The ball again travelled to slip as Surya Kumar Yadav took a similar catch that dismissed Finn Allen.
What a catch!#skyhasnolimit#suryakumaryadav@ pic.twitter.com/hikHH7g0OG
— Abhinav Sinha (@the_abhi_4572) February 1, 2023
Shubman Gill lights up Ahmedabad –
Shubman Gill on Wednesday created history when became India’s leading scorer by an Individual batter in T20I cricket. Gill scored 126 not out off 63 balls with 12 fours and 7 sixes in his knock. Gill went past the 122 by Virat Kohli that he scored in the 2022 Asia Cup against Afghanistan. Based on this knock, India scored 234 from their 20 overs.
Indian seamers leave NZ in tatters –
Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh came out all guns blazing as they took 2 wickets each. Finn Allen and Glenn Phillips fell to Pandya for 3 and 2 respectively. Arshdeep who has been under pressure got the wickets of Conway for 1 and Mark Chapman for a duck. Umran Malik got the wicket of Michael Bracewell bowled to a delivery clocked at 150KPH for 8.
At the time of writing, New Zealand were 30/5 from 6 overs with a mountain to climb.