Wellington witnessed one of the most destructive chases in T20 international cricket on Monday, as Abhishek Sharma produced a breathtaking hundred to carry India to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the third T20I and seal the five-match series with two games still to play. Chasing a challenging target of 199, India reached 199 for four in just 13.2 overs, finishing the contest with 40 balls to spare and leaving the home crowd stunned by the sheer speed of the pursuit.
New Zealand, asked to bat first after India won the toss and elected to field, posted 198 for three from their 20 overs. Daryl Mitchell anchored the innings with an unbeaten 89 off 52 balls, while Finn Allen contributed 40 off 25 balls and Bevon Jacobs finished unbeaten on 39 off 23 balls. On most nights, a total approaching 200 would have set up a tense finish. On this night, it barely lasted long enough to become a contest.
The reason was Abhishek Sharma. The left-handed opener smashed 113 off just 38 balls, an innings decorated with nine fours and 11 sixes, and he reached his fifty in only 15 balls before completing his hundred in 35 balls. It was his fourth hundred in T20 internationals, and it came at a pace that left New Zealand’s bowlers with no room to settle, no length to defend and no phase of the innings in which to regroup.
He was not alone in the early assault. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 45 off 19 balls, and together the pair put on 133 runs for the opening wicket in just 7.1 overs, or 43 balls. The partnership effectively ended the match as a contest before the halfway stage of the chase, turning a demanding target into a procession and forcing New Zealand to chase the game from the very first over.
The numbers from the powerplay told the story in stark terms. India reached 118 without loss in the powerplay, a record for T20 internationals. It was not reckless hitting for its own sake, but a sustained, calculated attack: boundaries came regularly, the pressure never eased, and every bowling change was met with the same intent. By the time the field spread, the required rate had already collapsed.
New Zealand did find brief moments of resistance with the ball. Mitchell Santner, the home captain, finished with one for 17 from three overs and dismissed India captain Shreyas Iyer, while Kyle Jamieson claimed two for 45. Those breakthroughs, however, came far too late to change the direction of the match. The damage had been done in the opening overs, and the middle order was left with a chase that required composure rather than heroics.
Abhishek was named Player of the Match. A hundred in 35 balls in a run chase, finished with more than six overs unused, marks it out as one of the finest T20 innings of recent years.
For India, the wider significance is just as important as the individual brilliance. The victory gives them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, with two matches remaining. A series win secured with games to spare offers the team management room to test combinations and manage workloads, while also sending a clear message about the depth and aggression of the current batting line-up.
The story of this series, at least so far, has already been written in Wellington. On a night when India needed 199, Abhishek Sharma needed only 38 balls to make 113 of them, and the series was sealed in a little over 13 overs of unforgettable batting.
