The batsmen led from the front in India’s victory over New Zealand in the first two T20Is. In the third, in Guwahati on Sunday, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/18) and pacer Jasprit Bumrah (3/17) played a bigger role in India’s eight-wicket romp, which also earned them the series with an unassailable 3-0 lead.
This T20I series victory was also a record ninth in a row at home for India.
After the bowlers did their share of the job, opener Abhishek Sharma (68 not out off 20 balls) and captain Suryakumar Yadav (57 not out off 26 balls), along with Ishan Kishan (28 off 13 balls) for a brief period, demolished the Kiwis’ attack as India raced home with 10 overs to spare.
Matt Henry castled Sanju Samson off the first ball of India’s run chase and beat Ishan in the next. But thereafter, not a single New Zealand bowler was spared the rod as Ishan and Abhishek just blazed away at will.
Ishan’s stay didn’t last too long this time around, but Abhishek continued with his relentless strokeplay enroute to hitting the second-fastest fifty (off 14 balls) by an Indian, taking just two more balls than his mentor Yuvraj Singh. Surya, too, is warming up well for the T20 World Cup with another commanding half-century.
If India’s bowling was sharp, New Zealand’s was just as bad, feeding the Indians with at least one bad delivery in almost every over and bowling to the batsmen’s strength. Santner’s captaincy too was least imaginative, and it was also a surprise as to why spin wasn’t introduced earlier.
The New Zealand innings, after India won the toss again and opted to bowl first, was in disarray right from the onset. In fact, the visitors themselves made their task harder by repeatedly giving catching practice at the deep.
A fair amount of credit, though, has to go to Bishnoi and Bumrah for their dot balls, which were almost as important as their strikes. Both the bowlers bowled 11 dot balls each, while the Black Caps could only manage one boundary in each of their spells.
For Bishnoi, this was a bigger test as, alongside donning the India cap for the first time in over 11 months, he had come in as a replacement for game-changer Varun Chakravarthy, who was rested. Having to bowl inside the Powerplay, he gave as little width as possible to maintain the pressure on the Kiwis.
Returning to the XI in place of a rested Arshdeep Singh, Bumrah struck off the very first ball of his spell to dismantle the off-stump of Tim Seifert with one that moved just a shade away. Right through his four-over spell, Bumrah was spot-on with his accuracy.