As Donald Trump launched a verbal tirade on NATO, Europe, Greenland, and UK energy at DAVOS, halfway across the world in India, Abhishek Sharma waded into the New Zealand bowlers with an outlandish innings that set up a 48-run in the opening T20I.
On a traditionally low-scoring pitch, India posted 238 thanks largely to Abhishek’s 35-ball 84 and punchy cameos from Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh. Chasing their highest total ever conceded to India, New Zealand finished on 190/7 with Glenn Phillips hitting 78 off 40 deliveries.
Even as wickets fell around him, including those of Sanju Samson for 10 and the returning Ishan Kishan for 8, Abhishek kept taking on the Black Caps bowlers en route to a 22-ball fifty, while steering the score to 117/2 at the halfway mark of the first innings. In the process, Abhishek – the top-ranked T20I batsman – became the fastest to 5,000 runs in T20 cricket. And it was this kind of ballsy display of batting that could became the template for India at next month’s World Cup.
Abhishek smashed eight sixes on his way to 84 from a mere 35 deliveries, with some help from Suryakumar Yadav, who made 32 off 22 amidst a prolonged lean run of form. The stats show that Abhishek hits a six every eight balls; in Nagpur, he smacked four in his first 15 balls faced. His half-century was up from 22 balls, and he looked set for a hundred until he got out to Ish Sodhi.
Suryakumar has gone 23 T20I innings without a fifty, but looked fluent during his innings, which ended when he chipped a ball from Santner down towards long-on where Tim Robinson held a diving catch.
After the exits of Abhishek, SKY and Shivam Dube it came down to Pandya and Rinku to get the total past 200 and the pair clubbed several eye-catching shots. Pandya skipped out to his first delivery and drilled it back past Santner for four and kept batting aggressively during his 16-ball 25. Rinku, batted at No 7 behind Dube, finished on 44 from 20 balls with four fours and three sixes.
India’s bowling was a mixed bag, largely because of how well Phillips and Mark Chapman batted. Arshdeep Singh took his customary opening-over wicket, Pandya struck in the second over, and Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Tim Robinson just after the Powerplay. Phillips smashed six sixes in his 40-ball 78, with Dube’s gentle medium pace going for plenty, but wickets kept falling to peg back the chase, and Varun added another to his name.
Inside seven overs, the Black Caps lost three wickets for 52 runs. Arshdeep drew an edge off Devon Conway’s bat that Samson held onto one-handed behind the stumps, and moments later Pandya also struck in his first over when Rachin Ravindra poked a catch to Abhishek at slip.
Phillips and Chapman (39) pummeled runs as the asking rate surged, which dented the figures of most of the bowlers. Both fell to spin, by which time the requirement had reached unattainable levels. Jasprit Bumrah went wicketless but crucially denied the Kiwis runs at the death.
The fielding was better than in the ODIs, but India were far from blemish-free. Samson missed a run out chance and Kishan and Rinku each put down catches in the deep.
