Suryakumar Yadav showed his unparalleled superiority in the shortest format with a breathtaking hundred, as India beat New Zealand by 65 runs in the second T20, at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. Surya hit a sensational 111 not out of 51 balls for his second T20 century to blast India to 191 for six. Promoted to number three, the 32-year-old played with the bowlers to lift India to a challenging total after New Zealand batted the visitors. He broke boundaries and sixes at will, his last 64 runs coming off just 18 balls. His entertaining innings had 11 fours and seven sixes and his strike rate was an incredible 217.64.
New Zealand bowlers seemed clueless as Surya continued to string together some extraordinary shots.
The hosts continued to lose wickets in the chase and never looked chasing. In the end New Zealand were all out for 126 in 18.5 overs.
With the first game wiped out, India now leads the three-game series 1-0 with the last game to be played on Tuesday.
New Zealand suffered a setback early in the chase when the dangerous Finn Allen made a big drive on a Bhuvneshwar Kumar outswinger, only to be caught with the third man.
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Opener Devon Conway (25 of 22) and skipper Kane Williamson (61 of 52) tied a score of 56 runs, but could not find the big hits needed to keep up with the asking rate.
Conway was caught with a deep back square leg going for the sweep against Washington Sundar. Big hitter Glenn Phillips had to do something special to get New Zealand back into the game.
He made his intentions clear with a sharp blow to Yuzvendra Chahal that went all the way, but two balls later the same shot led to his downfall.
With New Zealand struggling to 89 for five in the 14th over, the game was all but over.
It was a good comeback game Yuzvendra Chahal (2/26) who surprisingly didn’t get a single game in the recent World Cup. Part-time off-spinner Deepak Hooda struck three times in the 19th over to finish with a four-wicket haul. Skipper Hardik Pandya did not bowl. Earlier, India’s experiment to open with Rishabh Pant didn’t work as he fell after a slow six off 13 balls. While Surya was again in a class of his own, opener Ishan Kishan (36 of 31) and number four Shreyas Iyer (13 of 9) were other batters who showed intent but couldn’t continue.
India’s power play approach was the focus for the match, but not much was achieved on that front, with the team reaching 42 for one over six overs.
It may not look easy to the naked eye, but in his own words, Surya kept it “simple” and executed his amazing array of strokes according to the field placements.
When the spinners threw it full on the stump he was happy to play the inside out shot over cover and when the faster bowlers aimed his stumps at good length he helped sail the ball some sixes down the fine leg. In total, Surya collected 11 fours and seven sixes.
He brought up his second 49-ball T20 century with an air drive that went wide of sweeper coverage.
Surya went berserk in the penultimate over bowled by Lockie Ferguson, hammering four boundaries and a phenomenal six over low runs. The fast bowler was clearly out of ideas with Surya on number.
The last five overs yielded 72 runs. Tim Southee bowled a brilliant 20th over and stopped the walk of runs by taking a hat-trick. He dispatched Washington Sundar, Deepak Hooda and Hardik Pandya at a trot.
Players like Umran Malik, Sanju Samson and Shubman Gill did not get a game on Sunday.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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