(Cricket news) Shubman Gill’s maiden century and Hardik Pandya’s brilliant all-round show helped India register a 168-run win against New Zealand which was their biggest victory margin in T20Is. The men Blue piled on their fifth-highest score 234/4 as they bundled out New Zealand for 66 in only 12.1 overs which was their third-lowest total in T20Is. India won the toss and elected to bat, they lost Ishan Kishan early who was trapped leg before by a flat delivery from Michael Bracewell.

Gill ensured that the run rate was constant as he hit some sublime boundaries. The young Indian opener played the role of the anchor through the middle overs which allowed his partners Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya to take the New Zealand bowlers but he picked his pace up in the second half of his innings. It took him just 19 balls to race from his fifty to his hundred as he started to unleash his big-hitting prowess from the 16th over against Ben Lister. He then took on Blair Tickner and Lockie Ferguson later in the innings, who conceded 23 and 18 runs respectively which was sandwiched between the two overs of 17 runs each by Lister.

Gill made an outstanding hundred as he was unbeaten on 126, making him the youngest Indian to score centuries in all three formats. Rahul Tripathi gave the much needed impetus in the innings as he began cautiously, managing only 9 runs in his first 10 balls, but then broke free against Lockie Ferguson in the last over of the powerplay. Tripathi resorted to more unconventional shots as he kept on moving around and using the leg side region behind the wicket to good effect but ultimately fell on a 22-ball 44 by Mitchell Santner. Suryakumar Yadav started off in his quintessential manner but rather got out to a superb one-handed diving Bracewell  catch at mid-on.

Hardik came in and got going quickly, but he started playing second fiddle to Gill. Hardik struck four boundaries and a six before falling on a 17-ball 30 in the final over after both the Gujarat Titan players made a 103-run partnership for the fourth wicket to help India make a mammoth score of 235. In the second innings New Zealand’s top order succumbed against the new ball, with Hardik and Arshdeep Singh picking two wickets each and leaving the visitors at 9 for 4 in only 2.4 overs. Some brilliant slip catching by Suryakumar helped India as the New Zealand batters had no answer to the pace balling department. 

The dismissal of the match was when Umran Malik’s pace knocked the top of his stumps off Michael Bracewell’s wicket as Santner and Mitchell somewhat  revived the innings with a 32-run stand, but it wasn’t of much threat at all. Shivam Mavi joined the party and dismissed Santner and Ish Sodhi in quick succession. Hardik returned for his second spell and got the wickets of Ferguson and Tickner to give him his best T20 bowling figures of 4-16 as he also won the man of the series award.

Brief Scores: India 234/4 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 126*, Rahul Tripathi 44; Daryl Mitchell 1-6) beat New Zealand 66 in 12.1 overs (Daryl Mitchell 35; Hardik Pandya 4-16, Umran Malik 2-9) by 168 runs

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