Abhishek Sharma hits 35-ball hundred as India sweep New Zealand 3-0 in T20 series

India completed a 3-0 series victory over New Zealand with a convincing win in the third and deciding T20 at Wellington Stadium. The match was shaped by Abhishek Sharma, who played a ferocious innings and finished with a century.

New Zealand won the toss, chose to bat and put up 199, a total that looked formidable. India's chase began with a blast. Abhishek and the young Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was opening alongside him in this game, went after the bowlers from the first ball. Together they plundered 118 runs in the six powerplay overs, the highest powerplay score by India in men's T20 internationals. New Zealand's bowlers could not settle on a length, and the game drifted away from them early.

Suryavanshi made 45 before he was dismissed while attempting a big hit. Abhishek reached his fifty off only 15 balls and his hundred off 35. He was finally out for 113, and with that, he became the third Indian batter to score a fast century. After he left, captain Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson batted India to the target without trouble. The planning and discipline of the New Zealand attack counted for little.

The hundred was Abhishek's fourth in T20s. He has previously scored centuries against Afghanistan, England and Zimbabwe. This one was the second quickest of his career, behind the 30-ball hundred he hit against Afghanistan. He is reported to have broken several big records during the innings, including one held by Virat Kohli.

On the list of most T20 hundreds, Glenn Maxwell and Rohit Sharma lead with five each, while Phil Salt, Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek have four apiece. Given his current form, there is confidence that Abhishek will overtake that mark as well.

For India, Samson kept wicket and Iyer led the side. The rest of the group comprised Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir in the batting department, with Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Kumar Kushagra and Prince Yadav as allrounders and young options. The bowling resources were Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Mayank Yadav, besides Abhishek and Suryavanshi at the top of the order.

New Zealand were captained by Mitchell Santner, with Tim Seifert behind the stumps. Their named group also had Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs and Michael Bracewell, along with the bowlers Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Blair Tickner and Matt Fisher.