New Zealand gave India a taste of their own medicine as Glenn Phillips’ century and Jacob Duffy’s four-wicket haul powered New Zealand to a huge 87-run win over India in the fourth T20I at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Phillips smashed 107 from 49 balls, while Michael Bracewell hit 65 from 25 deliveries to take Kiwis to a record 259/7, before the bowlers replied well to restrict India to 172/9 in the chase.
This is now the first win for New Zealand in the ongoing T20I series, with India having already taken an unassailable lead of 3-0 as the series now stands 3-1.
The New Zealand batters meted out a punishing treatment to the Indian bowlers. Phillips and Bracewell put up a 115-run stand from 40 balls for the fifth wicket to power the Kiwis to their highest T20I total and the highest against India in the format.
Duffy was the star with the ball for New Zealand in what was a rare blip from the Indian batters. With a task so steep, it was always going to be extremely hard, and the visitors gave it a go but could not find the boundaries at will.
Duffy removed opener Sanju Samson (4) and No.3 returnee Ishan Kishan (0) in the first over to rock the Indian batting. Abhishek Sharma (27) and Shreyas Iyer (22) looked for quick runs but the former miscued it to mid-off in the fifth over as Matthew Fisher got his first.
Shreyas followed soon, getting cleaned up by Adam Milne in the sixth over for India to be struggling at 61/4 at the end of the powerplay.
In-form Naman Dhir (28) and Tilak Varma (35) were in the middle as Naman slammed 28, but he was dismissed in the 12th over by Duffy, with Daryl Mitchell and Nathan Smith taking a brilliant tag team catch on the deep mid-wicket fence.
Duffy had another when he got Arshdeep Singh for a golden duck caught at a deep point. Tilak was left alone with the tail, and he did find some boundaries, but the required rate had already climbed near 25 before the death overs for India to only do damage control.
Tilak made a run-a-ball 35 and was dismissed in the second-to-last over of the match by Fisher for his second wicket. Tilak skied one high in the air as wicketkeeper Tim Seifert took a well-judged running and diving catch.
Prince Yadav found a boundary off an edge on the final ball of the 19th over and a six in the final over, but India were restricted to 172/7 with Prince going unbeaten on 18. Duffy took a four-wicket haul for a strong performance with the ball.
Earlier, New Zealand had probably batted India out of the contest with a jaw-dropping show in the first innings. The 259/7 is the highest T20I total, surpassing the previous highest score of 254/5, which they had smashed four years ago against Scotland and is the most by any team against India, going past the previous 257/3 that England had hit in Southampton earlier this year.
The Indian bowlers had a very tough time in the middle. They were meted out a tough treatment, similar to what the Indian batters have generally done against the Kiwis this series.
Nitish Kumar Reddy was hit for a huge 32-run over, while Axar Patel, Mayank Yadav and Prince Yadav were also meted out with some punishing treatment. Arshdeep Singh also achieved a significant milestone during the game as he completed his 150 T20I wickets, becoming the first Indian to reach the milestone in the format.
For India, Mayank Yadav was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped 3-48 in his four overs on return, while Arshdeep, Prince Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy also picked one wicket each.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 259/7 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 107, Michael Bracewell 65; Mayank Yadav 3-48, Arshdeep Singh 1-38) beat India (Tilak Varma 35, Naman Dhir 28; Jacob Duffy 4-23, Mitchell Santner 2-24) by 87 runs.
