The Hosts Registered A 168 Run Victory In Ahmedabad To Secure A 2 1 Series Win Against New Zealand

Gill, Pandya power India to record win

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Electing to bat, India lost opener Ishan Kishan early, trapped legbefore by a flat delivery from Michael Bracewell. However, Gill ensured that there was a constant flow of runs with some sublime boundaries. The Indian opener slowed down briefly through the middle overs, allowing his partners – Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya to take the New Zealand bowlers down, but picked up the pace again in the second half of his innings. It took him merely 19 balls to race from his fifty to his hundred, unleashing his big-hitting prowess from the 16th over against Ben Lister. A harsher treatment was meted out to Blair Tickner and Lockie Ferguson later in the innings, who conceded 23 and 18 runs respectively, sandwiching two overs of 17 runs each by Lister.

Gill finished unbeaten on a 63-ball 126, making him the youngest Indian to score centuries in all three formats.

Was he alone in this act?

Not at all.

It began with a fifty-run alliance with Rahul Tripathi for the second wicket, which ensured India got a solid start despite losing Kishan early. Tripathi began cautiously, managing only 9 runs in his first 10 balls, but then broke free against Ferguson in the last over of the powerplay. Unlike Gill, Tripathi resorted to more unconventional shots, moving around in his crease and even using the leg side region behind the wicket to good effect.

He fell on a 22-ball 44, pulling a half-tracker by Mitchell Santner straight to the fine leg fielder.

However, even after his dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav ensured that India’s innings didn’t lose momentum,. In quintessential manner, he got going quickly and toyed with the fielding for a brief while. Much like Tripathi, his dismissal was rather unfortunate with Bracewell taking a superb one-handed diving catch at mid on to dismiss the batter after he had mistimed a hack.

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Yet again, New Zealand couldn’t find a way back into the contest. Hardik got going quickly, but soon shifted to playing the second fiddle to Gill. Nonetheless, he struck four boundaries and a six before falling on a 17-ball 30 in the final over – en route a 103-run alliance for the fourth wicket – of India’s innings, where they managed to pick only 6 runs off Daryl Mitchell.

Did New Zealand keep up in the chase?

Not at all. Even before they could get going, their challenge was nipped in the bud. Their top order succumbed against the new ball, with Hardik and Arshdeep Singh picking a brace each and leaving the visitors languishing at 9 for 4 in only 2.4 overs.

Some fine reflex catches at slips by Suryakumar helped matters for India, but New Zealand’s batters’ pain point was largely the moving ball.

Soon enough Bracewell was also cleaned up by Umran Malik’s pace that knocked the top of his stumps and New Zealand faced an uphill task. Santner and Mitchell revived the innings briefly with a 32-run stand, but it wasn’t of much threat. Shivam Mavi joined the action and dismissed Santner and Ish Sodhi in quick succession to reduce them to 53 for 7.

Hardik returned for his second spell and scalped the wickets of Ferguson and Tickner to end New Zealand’s innings.

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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