Suryakumar Yadav's century and Deepak Hooda's four-wicket haul helped India thrash New Zealand by 65 runs at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. With the win, Team India take 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first game was abandoned due to rain.
Chasing a daunting 192-run target, the Kiwis were off to the worst possible start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent Finn Allen back to the pavilion on a duck in the first over itself. Captain Kane Williamson then stitched a 56-run stand with Devon Conway to steady the New Zealand innings. But after the wicket of Conway, the Kiwi chase was derailed and they kept losing wickets from one end. Williamson, though, slammed a sedate fifty but couldn't take his team home as Hooda snuffled 4 wickets, conceding just 10 runs. Finally, New Zealand were bundled out for 126 runs with 7 balls to spare.
Earlier, after put into bat, Rishabh Pant as an opener failed to make any impression but his partner Ishan Kishan smashed some glorious boundaries, scoring 36 runs off 31 balls. Surya continued his superb run of form and went hammer & tongs from word go. He went onto to score his second century in 2022 and remained unbeaten on 111 runs. However, it was Tim Southee's hattrick in last last over which didn't allow India to went past 200-run mark.
Also Read: IND vs NZ 2nd T20I: Suryakumar Yadav's 100 & Tim Southee's hat-trick light up Mount Maunganui