India continued their remarkable run in T20 Internationals, chasing down 153 runs with ten overs to spare and comprehensively thrashing New Zealand to register their 11th consecutive series or tournament win.
The hosts once again underlined their depth and poise as both the bowlers and batsmen put in excellent performances.
Jasprit Bumrah and Ravi Bishnoi, who were included in the playing XI, shared five wickets for 35 runs to restrict New Zealand to a modest score.
Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan then chased down the target with ease.
The result gives them a 3-0 lead in the series with two matches to play.
Notably, the dominance started even before the World Cup two years ago and shows no signs of abating.
India struck the ball early as Harshit Rana removed a bat in the first over and Bumrah hit the off stump with his first delivery.
Despite Sanju Samson’s golden duck, Kishan and Abhishek immediately counter-attacked, threatening the boundary ropes inside the powerplay.
Abhishek scored India’s second fastest T20 fifty in 14 balls. He wrecked New Zealand’s plans with the ball on his bats, displaying fearless intent and clean striking.
Suryakumar, with less explosiveness, returned to form with an unbeaten 57 off 26 balls, controlling the chase with trademark fluency.
Earlier, New Zealand struggled to build momentum. Devon Conway tried an aggressive start despite falling to Rana several times on the tour, with Hardik Pandya playing a brilliant overhead catch.
Pandya was soon involved again, setting up a simple opportunity for Bishnoi to remove Rachin Ravindra.
Bishnoi, employed in a powerplay role usually reserved for Varun Chakraborty, impressed with his deceptive pace and trajectory, conceding just one run in the fifth over.
Bumrah struck again as New Zealand slumped to 34 for 2, dropping Tim Seifert for pace and movement.
Phillips and Mark Chapman looked to recover, leading the opening overs cautiously and reaching 75 for 3 at the halfway point. However, the return of Bumrah and Bishnoi proved decisive.
Bishnoi dismissed Chapman with a slippery delivery and triggered another collapse as wickets continued to fall under pressure.
Mitchell Santner’s 17-ball 27 took New Zealand past 150, but the total was too low on a good batting surface.
Any initial hope for New Zealand after Samson’s first-ball dismissal was quickly extinguished by Kishan’s explosive strokeplay.
Before Abhishek joined the attack, he picked off Matt Henry with three lofted strokes, charged down the track to Jacob Duffy and bowled him to midwicket.
The duo put on 53 off 19 balls, with Kishan scoring 28 off 13 balls. By then, Abhishek had scored 23 off six balls and continued his onslaught, repeatedly stepping outside leg stump to target the off side.
He brought up his half-century in the powerplay, missing Yuvraj Singh’s feat by two balls.
At the end of the powerplay, India reached 94 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Suryakumar then took charge, spinning the strike and finding boundaries at will as New Zealand searched in vain for answers.