Abhishek Sharma's century powers India to T20 series win over New Zealand

India won the third and decisive T20 against New Zealand and took the series. The biggest contributors were Abhishek Sharma, who scored a century, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who opened with him and whose fast innings set the course of the match early.

New Zealand won the toss, batted first and set India a target of 199. The total was considered a big one, but the Indian batters comfortably overhauled it.

Chasing, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Suryavanshi attacked the New Zealand bowlers from the start. The pair scored 118 runs in the six powerplay overs, India's highest powerplay score in men's T20 internationals. The bowlers struggled to find where to pitch the ball.

Suryavanshi, opening in this match, also began aggressively. He was out trying a big shot, but by then he had made 45. Abhishek Sharma completed a fine half-century and then reached his hundred, becoming the third Indian batter to make a fast century. He was out for 113.

After his dismissal, captain Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson took charge and saw India home. All the accuracy and planning of the New Zealand bowlers proved futile against the Indian batters, and they managed only one wicket in the entire innings.

India's squad included Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Kumar Kushagra and Mayank Yadav.

New Zealand's squad included Tim Seifert (wicketkeeper), Finn Allen, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Bevon Jacobs, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Nathan Smith, Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Blair Tickner, Matt Fisher and Devon Conway.