On Tuesday, October 27, at the Henry Stadium in Wellington, India defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets in the third match of their 5-match T20I series. Chasing a daunting target of 199 runs, the Indian openers got off to an explosive start, piling up 118 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket—a world record for any Full Member nation. Opening the innings, Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored 45 runs off 19 balls before falling to Matthew Fisher; at that stage, the team’s score stood at 133/1 after 7.1 overs.
India defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets in the third match
However, the match was dominated from the outset by Abhishek Sharma, who smashed his fourth T20I century. He scored 113 runs off just 38 balls at a staggering strike rate of 297.37, featuring 11 sixes and 9 fours. He was eventually dismissed by Kyle Jamieson.
India subsequently lost two more wickets—Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson, who departed for 5 and 18 runs, respectively. Ultimately, a boundary from Naman Dhir sealed the victory for India, as they reached the target in 13.2 overs. Ind has now taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the 5-match T20I series, with the fourth match scheduled for October 30 at Eden Park, Auckland.
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Earlier, Daryl Mitchell scored an unbeaten 89 off 52 balls, helping New Zealand post a total of 198/3 after batting first. New Zealand had stumbled early, finding themselves at 6/1 after 1.2 overs, but a strong partnership between Finn Allen and Mitchell staged a brilliant comeback, putting India on the back foot.
Allen was dismissed after scoring 40 runs off 25 balls, while Mitchell carried his innings forward, hitting five fours and as many sixes. For India, Arshdeep Singh was the most successful bowler, taking 1 wicket for 33 runs.
