India secured a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in Wellington on Tuesday, taking the five-match Twenty20 International series with two matches still to play. The chase was led by a blistering opening stand from Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
New Zealand had posted 198, but India reached the target in only 13.2 overs. Abhishek struck 113 and Sooryavanshi added 45, and their 133-run partnership came in just 7.1 overs, making it one of the most destructive in the format's history.
The assault began immediately. Jacob Duffy's opening over cost 26 runs, and the pair never eased off. Abhishek hit nine fours and 11 sixes in a 38-ball innings, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he fell to Kyle Jamieson. By then India had reached 178-2 after 10 overs.
Sooryavanshi had been moved up to open with Abhishek after batting at number three in the second T20I. He made 45 off 19 balls, including four fours and four sixes.
"The key was pretty simple: Vaibhav and I enjoyed our time," Abhishek said. "When we were fielding, we saw there was some extra bounce. Vaibhav started off well, and we took the momentum from there."
India captain Shreyas Iyer was full of praise. "Getting 100 in five overs, I have not seen that before at the international level," he said. "Credit where it is due, the way they played was exceptional."
India won the toss for the third time in as many matches and again chose to bowl. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh found plenty of seam movement early, beating the outside edge of openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen. Seifert was dismissed for two, top-edging a delivery from Singh.
Daryl Mitchell then joined Allen, and the pair put together an 86-run partnership. Mitchell adjusted quickly to the conditions, moving around the crease to counter the seam movement and punishing short deliveries towards the short square boundaries. He hit five fours and five sixes in an innings of 89 from 52 balls.
Allen contributed 40 from 25 balls before departing. Mitchell then found another strong partner in Bevon Jacobs, who finished unbeaten on 39 from 23 deliveries. It proved far from enough against India's openers.
The fourth T20I will be played at Auckland's Eden Park on Friday.