Abhishek Sharma smashed a 35-ball century as India demolished New Zealand by six wickets in the third T20I in Wellington on Tuesday, chasing down a target of 199 in just 13.2 overs to seal the five-match series with two games to spare.
The victory gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and completed a hat-trick of T20I series wins on New Zealand soil, following triumphs by 5-0 and 1-0 margins in 2020 and 2022. It was, by common consent, one of the most destructive batting displays in the history of the format, built on a record-breaking opening partnership between Sharma and 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
New Zealand, having lost the toss and been sent in to bat for a third successive match, posted a respectable 198 for three at the Westpac Stadium in cold and windy conditions. Number three Daryl Mitchell top-scored with an unbeaten 89 off 52 balls, while Finn Allen contributed 40 and Bevon Jacobs chipped in with a brisk 39. Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel picked up a wicket each for India.
At the halfway stage, the total looked competitive. Within an hour, it looked hopelessly inadequate.
The chase began in extraordinary fashion. Sooryavanshi, promoted to open the innings, thumped the first ball of the innings from Jacob Duffy over the mid-on fielder to the fence, and the first over yielded 26 runs. The contest, as one report put it, was effectively over after three searing overs, in which 64 runs were ransacked from 18 deliveries. Runs arrived in a blur, and New Zealand's bowlers, who had bowled tidily in the first innings, suddenly had no answers.
Sharma and Sooryavanshi put on 133 runs for the opening wicket in just 7.1 overs, and their 118 runs in the powerplay set a new world record, beating the previous mark of 116 set by Romania against Serbia in 2021. The pair also combined to hit the fastest team fifty in the white-ball format, reaching the milestone in just 2.2 overs.
By the time the stand ended, with Sooryavanshi caught at long-on for 45 off 19 balls trying to slog recalled New Zealand quick Matthew Fisher over his head, the two had hit a dozen sixes between them.
Sharma, meanwhile, was threatening to eclipse his own record. His 30-ball century against Afghanistan in Delhi last month remains the fastest by a batter from a full-member nation, and for a time in Wellington it looked as though he might go even quicker.
He was denied a second slice of history only by a dropped catch that, paradoxically, kept him at the crease: New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner lost the flight of the ball in the swirling Wellington wind and put Sharma down at extra cover on 92.
Sharma soon reached his century by smashing Kyle Jamieson to the fine leg fence, marking the moment with footballer Erling Haaland's meditation celebration. He was eventually dismissed for 113 off just 38 balls, a knock containing 11 sixes and nine boundaries, with Glenn Phillips holding the catch near deep midwicket after Jamieson finally found a way through. Sharma, named player of the match, said afterwards: That was the plan for us.
Just get the momentum for the team and keep going.
The rest was a formality. Sanju Samson, pushed down to number three, managed 18 before being bowled with India just four runs away from victory, and Naman Dhir struck a boundary off the next delivery to seal the win with 40 balls to spare. The margin, six wickets with more than six overs unused, barely conveyed the scale of the domination: India had chased 199 as though it were a modest club total.
The performance confirmed Sharma's status as the most destructive opener in world cricket at present. His century in Wellington was his second in quick succession at a strike rate that defies conventional batting logic, and his partnership with Sooryavanshi, a teenager playing only his seventh international game, offered a glimpse of India's batting future.
Sooryavanshi, who struck four sixes and four boundaries in his 45, batted with a fearlessness that belied his age, taking on Duffy, until recently the highest-ranked T20I bowler in the world, from the very first ball.
For New Zealand, the defeat was a chastening experience, and the hiding their bowlers received in the powerplay may be hard to put behind them ahead of the remaining matches. Mitchell's unbeaten 89 had given them something to defend, and on most days 198 would have been enough to test any chasing side. On this day, it was not enough to test India for even 14 overs.
The series now moves to Auckland for the fourth match on Friday, October 30, with the final game scheduled for Hamilton on November 1. With the series already decided, those matches offer New Zealand a chance to restore pride and India an opportunity to test their bench, but the story of this tour has already been written in Wellington.
A 35-ball century, a record powerplay, a 15-year-old taking apart one of the world's best attacks, and a series sealed with two games to spare: it was, in every sense, a statement win.
The innings also underlined how quickly the balance of a T20 match can shift when one batter finds his range. New Zealand's bowlers had started the tour respectably, and Fisher, recalled for this match, would have expected a testing examination from India's openers. Instead, he watched his first over disappear and his side's plans unravel within the powerplay.
Santner's dropped catch on 92 was the only moment of fortune Sharma needed, and from there the result was never in doubt. Such is the cruelty of the format: a single missed chance against a batter in this form is often the whole match.
For Indian cricket, the wider significance lies in the depth the performance revealed. A side that can promote a 15-year-old to open, watch him smash 45 off 19 balls, and still have Sharma produce one of the great T20 innings at the other end, is a side with batting resources few opponents can match. The remaining matches may be dead rubbers in terms of the series, but they will be watched closely for further evidence of just how far this young Indian batting line-up can go.
(Reporting based on Sky Sports and The Indian Express.)