India and New Zealand clashed in the series-deciding third T20I at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on February 1. Hardik Pandya started well by winning the toss and chose to bat first as the Men in Blue fought to keep their unbeaten run at home intact.
Ishan Kishan’s struggles continued as he was dismissed for 1 run, but then Rahul Tripathi (44 in 22 balls) and Shubman Gill took full advantage of powerplay overs adding 80 runs for the second wicket.
Then Suryakumar Yadav got out despite looking good for his 24 in 13 balls, but Shubman Gill was going great guns, bringing up his half-century in 35 balls. After Suryakumar fell, Hardik Pandya (30 in 17 balls) came in and just then Shubman switched gears.
He slammed his maiden T20I hundred and finished on 126* with 12 fours and 7 sixes in 63 balls, which is also the highest score by an Indian in T20Is, leaving behind Virat Kohli’s 122* last year. India made 234/4 in 20 overs with Shubman and Hardik adding 103 runs in 40 balls.
In reply, New Zealand lost Finn Allen in the first over as he was caught brilliantly in the slips by Suryakumar Yadav off Hardik Pandya. Allen tried to slash a short ball over the slips, but Surya leaped high in the air and grabbed the ball with both hands.
Here is the video:
New Zealand continued to lose wickets and then Suryakumar Yadav took another catch in the slips, again off Pandya. This time in the 3rd over, as Glenn Phillips tried to play a similar shot like Allen and Suryakumar once again leapt high in the air to do an action replay of the previous catch, reducing New Zealand to 7/4 inside 3 overs.
Here is the video:
