Thiruvananthapuram: Ishan Kishan’s thrill-a-second maiden T20I hundred compensated for Sanju Samson’s familiar failure, and the knock in conjunction with Arshdeep Singh’s fifer scripted India’s 46-run romp over New Zealand in the fifth and final match here on Saturday.
India thus sealed the series 4-1, and wrapped up their preparations to defend the T20 World Cup title on a highly satisfactory note.
Once India made a humongous 271 for five, riding on Kishan’s (103, 43 balls, 6×4, 10×6) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s (63, 30b, 4×4, 6×6), only the margin of victory was needed to be known.
The Kiwis fought gamely in pockets, but eventually finished with 225 all out. For India, pacer Arshdeep regrouped from his early travails to take a delightful five-wicket haul (5/51).
He had conceded 40 runs in his first two overs for the wicket of Tim Seifert, but then took four wickets in the next three overs for a mere 11 runs.
Fin Allen (80, 38b) played a powerful innings upfront but the target was always outside the Kiwis’ grasp.
Allen, the top-scorer in the recently concluded Big Bash League, carried that form to the Greenfield Stadium.
The right-hander put pacer Arshdeep through the shredder, collecting two fours and a six in the opening over of the Kiwis’ innings.
Soon, Allen clubbed the Indian pacer for 4, 4, 6, 4, 4 in his second over to make 23 runs in total.
Allen, who reached his sixth T20I fifty in 22 balls, fell to returning left-arm spinner Axar Patel (3/33), ending a second wicket alliance of 100 runs with Rachin Ravindra (30, 17b).
In fact, both the spinners — Axar and Varun Chakravarthy (1/36) — did a commendable job in reining in New Zealand after the Power Play.
There was no real life in New Zealand’s chase once Allen went back with wickets falling at regular intervals.
Samson fails again
But none entertained a full weekend house more than Kishan on a sultry evening, who came in after the early departures of Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
Opener Samson (6), whose fifth successive failure in this series now casts a huge shadow over his T20 World Cup prospects could not get going, falling to pacer Lockie Ferguson.
If he needed a more ominous sign then Kishan later kept the wickets too, giving a hint to the Indian team management’s thinking ahead of ICC showpiece, starting in a week’s time.
Abhishek (30 off 16 balls) gave a solid start but extra pace from Ferguson did him in as India went through a relatively tepid power play phase — 54 for two.
But those were the only moments of joy for New Zealand during India’s innings after the hosts elected to bat.
For the rest of the innings, they were treated with utter disdain by Kishan and Suryakumar during their 137-run third wicket stand which came in just over 10 overs.
Kishan, who missed the fourth T20I with an unspecified injury, showed no trace of rust, putting the New Zealand bowlers through the wringer with his fast hands and nimble feet.
The left-hander started his carnage, smashing Ferguson for a four and six over extra over and the runs never really stopped thereafter.
Kishan brought his 50 in 28 balls with a four off Ish Sodhi and Suryakumar, who also completed 3000 runs in T20Is, went past the mark in two fewer balls with a six off Jacob Duffy.
Kishan, who completed 1000 T20I runs, was severe on Sodhi, creaming the leg-spinner for 29 runs in the 12th over and the sequence of his big-hits read — 4, 4, 4, 6, 4, 6.
Suryakumar departed in between, getting stumped by Tim Seifert while giving a charge to his opposite number and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner.
But that did not deter Kishan.
The Jharkhand man soon reached the cherished three-figure mark in 42 balls — a six off Santner took him to 97 and the subsequent one carried him past the landmark, which he celebrated with gusto before melting into Hardik Pandya’s bear hug.
Kishan’s second fifty came off just 14 balls.
From a team perspective, India made 189 off the last 11 overs at an economy of 17.18 runs per over.
The Kishan show finally ended when he was taken at square leg by Glenn Phillips off Duffy, and walked back to the hut accompanied by cheers and whistles.
Pandya’s strong hits (42 off 17 balls) towards the end ensured that India went past the 250-run mark for the fourth time in their T20I history.
