Abhishek Sharma struck 113 off 38 balls in Wellington on 27 October as India chased down New Zealand's 198 for 3 in 13.2 overs, winning the third T20 International by six wickets with 40 balls to spare. The result gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Abhishek reached his fifty in 15 balls and his hundred in 35, and shared an opening stand of 133 with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who made 45 off 19 balls. India finished the first six overs on 118 without losing a wicket, a powerplay total described as the best by any team in T20 cricket.
The case that this was one of the great T20 innings is built on pace and scale. A strike rate of 297.37 across 38 balls, a half-century in 15 balls, which is the third-fastest by an Indian batter in the format according to the match report, and a century in 35 balls would be remarkable in any match. Here it came in a chase of almost 200 against a New Zealand side that had scored heavily. The match produced 26 sixes and 28 fours in all, according to the match report. The opening pair put on 133 in 43 deliveries, and the powerplay haul of 118 without loss beat every previous team total in that phase of a T20 match. Abhishek was finally dismissed by Glenn Phillips off the bowling of Kyle Jamieson, but by then the target was nearly in reach, and India finished with 40 balls unused.
The counterargument is that the scorecard also shows how much the result depended heavily on one batter. New Zealand made 198 for 3, with Daryl Mitchell unbeaten on 89, his highest T20 score, Finn Allen making 40 off 25 balls and Bevon Jacobs 39 not out off 23, so India's bowlers conceded a total that would be enough to win many matches. India's win owed much to an opening pair who scored 133 of the chase before the first wicket fell, and Sooryavanshi was out to the first ball of the eighth over, so how the middle order copes when the openers fail was hardly tested. India can point out that New Zealand scored only 52 runs in the last five overs, but a chase this fast says little about how the team would handle a tighter finish.
The result matters because it shows the attacking approach that India's opening batters now take in T20 cricket. A powerplay of 118 puts pressure on bowlers who are not used to such scoring, and it gives the captain freedom to shape the match from the first over. For New Zealand, the lesson is that scoring 198 is no longer a guarantee of safety when the opposition can take the match away in the first six overs. With two matches still to play, the series is decided, but the final games will show whether India can repeat the formula.
Abhishek Sharma's 113 was an innings that will be talked about for years, and India now holds a 3-0 lead. The next question is whether the team can win just as comfortably when its openers are dismissed early.
Featured image: Wellington's stadium, the venue of the match (file photo; Abhishek Sharma is not pictured). Photo: Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Leave a Reply