India send statement with Guwahati rout

India's bowlers set up their series-clinching win in Guwahati against New Zealand on Sunday (January 25) but it was their batting unit that once again hit the headlines with just a few days to go for the T20 World Cup. In a heavily one-sided clash, India's batters made a mockery of the run chase to flatten New Zealand. Chasing 154, they knocked off 94 runs in just the powerplay before getting the job done by the end of the 10th over in incredible fashion following fifties from Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.

India opted to chase again after winning the toss and their bowling attack was strengthened by the return of Jasprit Bumrah. Ravi Bishnoi made his way back into the Indian XI as well after almost a year as the hosts opted to rest Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakaravarthy. India then went on to make an ideal start by striking twice in the opening two overs with Hardik Pandya having a hand in both the wickets. He first took a great catch in the first over which meant Devon Conway giving his wicket to Harshit Rana for the fifth time on this tour before Rachin Ravindra found the fielder in the deep in the following over.

New Zealand didn't slow down though, fully realising no total could be enough to challenge India's batting unit that's been on fire this series. Glenn Phillips hit a boundary first ball and fetched a couple more in the following over to race to 12 off 5 but Bumrah knocked down Tim Seifert's stumps first ball after getting introduced into the attack to peg the visitors back further. Mark Chapman and Phillips tried to break the shackles with a few boundaries off Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Dube to guide New Zealand to 75 at the halfway point.

However, India continued to make inroads in the second half as well. Bishnoi's successful return to the side saw him pick up a couple of wickets, including that of the well-set Phillips, and Hardik got rid of the dangerous Daryl Mitchell. Those dismissals reduced New Zealand to 112/6. From thereon, the game was just heading one way barring a miracle. Skipper Mitchell Santner, who chipped in with crucial runs in the last game, put his hand up again to drag New Zealand past 150 before Bumrah saw the back of him in the final over.

Given how the series had panned out, 153 was never going to be enough to pose problems for the home side as New Zealand found out despite the fact that they struck first ball to send Sanju Samson packing for a golden duck. Ishan Kishan continued from where he left off the other night as he hit his second and third deliveries for a six each. Abhishek got going in the following over as India were already 32/1 after just two overs. That forced them to introduce Ish Sodhi early and the move did pay dividends as the legspinner got rid of Ishan.

That was definitely the last piece of action that gave the visitors some respite as Abhishek went berserk and took on Jacob Duffy to cart him around in the final over of the powerplay for 22 runs to bring up India's second fastest fifty ever in the format off just 14 balls. With more than 60% of the target already wiped out, this game was as good as gone for New Zealand. Santner and Sodhi bore the brunt of Abhishek and Suryakumar's attack as they just continued to toy around and put on a spectacle for the crowd. In the process, Suryakumar also brought up his second consecutive half-century and gave New Zealand and the other teams plenty to ponder with less than two weeks to go for the showpiece event.

Brief scores: New Zealand 153/9 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 48; Jasprit Bumrah 3/17, Ravi Bishnoi 2/18) lost to India 155/2 in 10 overs (Abhishek Sharma 68*, Suryakumar Yadav 57*) by 8 wickets