Ishan Kishan blazed his way to an audacious 32-ball 76 to not only set up India’s gutsy overhaul of 208/6 in the second T20I on Friday to earn a 2-0 series lead but also announce his comeback in style.
It wasn’t the only comeback of the day though as India skipper Suryakumar Yadav also got to his first fifty in 24 T20I innings. It ended a barren run which stretched all the way back to October 2024.
Ishan put India in the driver’s seat but it was Surya, unbeaten on a pretty brisk 37-ball 82, who finished things off and the knock will go a long way towards restoring some of his lost confidence.
Surya chose to bowl because he wanted to test the team’s chasing temperament. But with Jasprit Bumrah rested and injured Axar Patel benched, it proved to be a costly affair as Rachin Ravindra and Mitchell Santner hit brisk forties to set India an asking rate of over 10.
India lost Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma in the space of three deliveries to be reduced to 6/2 but Kishan, in the company of Surya, knocked the wind out of New Zealand’s sails as India won by seven wickets and 28 balls to spare.
The third wicket partnership was worth 122 runs but Suryakumar, playing the anchor role, contributed just 39 runs in it because of the one-man show put up by Kishan.
Picked for this series after compelling performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Kishan came to the crease in the first over, nudged Matt Henry to mid-off, cut Jacob Duffy to deep point and then just took off with a flurry of boundaries that left New Zealand shellshocked.
The erring Zakary Foulkes was the first to be mauled, Kishan belting him for three fours before flicking him over fine-leg for a six. Santner tried to slow down the pace of the game with his left-arm spin but Kishan got a good measure of him with three consecutive boundaries.
A six and a four off Henry meant Kishan had cruised to his first T20I fifty since November, 2023 even as Surya kept giving his partner more of the strike.
Kishan was relentless, reverse-sweeping Ish Sodhi for a four over short third man before coming down the pitch and drilling a flat six over deep midwicket. When Santner’s half tracker was bludgeoned over deep mid-wicket for another six, it seemed that Kishan wouldn’t put a foot wrong. Till he did, against Sodhi, shuffling across the crease and trying to slog but only getting a top edge.
By then India had rocketed to a scoring rate of 14.22 so all that was needed after Kishan’s dismissal was a little bit of sensible batting.
Suryakumar somehow managed to combine a high-strike rate with a feeling of calm, finding boundaries regularly and farming the strike with Shivam Dube who remained unbeaten on 36 off 18 balls. So comprehensive was the win that it put to shade New Zealand’s early bluster after they were put to bat.
Threading Arshdeep Singh through the off-side for 18 runs in the first over was an ominous start from Devon Conway who tried every shot from a rasping cover drive to throwing the kitchen sink at the seaming ball. Another 18 runs in his next over—this time Tim Seifert cherry picking his spots with startling ease—and India were teetering towards conceding a massive early edge. Allaying those fears was Harshit Rana who lured a mishit from Conway with a 20kph slower delivery, the ball ballooning to Hardik Pandya at mid-off to give India their first breakthrough.
His wicket maiden was cue for Suryakumar Yadav to ring in Varun Chakravarthy for the fifth over,. First ball, Seifert read the googly off the surface. Next ball was another googly and Seifert was ready to slog sweep, only to end up getting a top-edge that Ishan Kishan did well to catch. In the space of eight balls, New Zealand had two new batters at the crease after shellacking 43 runs in the first three overs. With two sixes and a boundary however, Rachin Ravindra ensured New Zealand finished an eventful Powerplay with 64 runs.
Spin had been introduced from both ends by then, but Ravindra kept swatting sixes. Wickets kept tumbling as well. Kuldeep Yadav duly removed Glenn Phillips after being carted around the ground for a six and two fours. Daryll Mitchell looked to carry forward the momentum by clattering Abhishek for consecutive fours but change of pace again worked in favour of India, this time Dube removing Mitchell with an off cutter that the Kiwi couldn’t get past Pandya in the deep.
