India 155 for 2 (Abhishek 68*, Suryakumar 57*, Kishan 28, Henry 1-28) beat New Zealand 153 for 9 (Phillips 48, Bumrah 3-17, Bishnoi 2-18, Pandya 2-23) by eight wickets
A 3-0 series win with two matches to go, on the back of two players who are not in India’s first-choice XI right now, is as emphatic a challenge as any as India get ready to defend their world title at home; this series winning streak started before the said World Cup two years ago.
Harshit Rana took a wicket in the first over, Bumrah flattened the off stump first ball, and Kishan and Abhishek hit multiple boundaries in their first overs despite a golden duck for Sanju Samson on a night where India dominated their conquerors from Tests and ODIs.
Abhishek went on to register India’s second-quickest half-century in just 14 balls, almost mocking New Zealand’s plan to bowl at his pads and take away his room. Not as spectacular as Abhishek, Suryakumar still continued his comeback to form with an unbeaten 57 off 26 balls.
Perhaps tongue in cheek, Mitchell Santner said after the last match that you need 300 against “these guys”. Devon Conway wanted to start accordingly even though he had fallen to Rana four times in four innings on this tour. All he managed, though, was a mis-hit to mid-off, this time to an on-pace delivery. At mid-off, Hardik Pandya took a brilliant overhead catch, and in the next over created a much simpler chance for Bishnoi with a short ball to Rachin Ravindra.
