Suryakumar Yadav’s rampant century inspires India to a dominant win at the Bay Oval

It was a thunderous start from Team India to their T20I series against New Zealand in the contest that was officially the second of the series as the Men in Blue demolished the hosts comfortably at the Bay Oval.

On a pitch where 9 out of 12 T20I games were won batting first, Kane Williamson opted to field after winning the toss. For the first time since 2012, India saw two southpaws doing them the opening honours in a T20I with Gautam Gambhir and Irfan Pathan being the last pair to take the mantle being left-handers.

Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant started well with the former dictating the major part of the narrative while Pant couldn’t shake off the early jitters as Lockie Ferguson’s pace left him jumbled. An on-song Suryakumar Yadav was propelled higher up the order and that maneuver paid handsome dividends for the Men in Blue.

Kishan seemed to be in decent touch even though the strike rate for the southpaw was untowardly lower than his characteristic explosive demenaour as he got out for 36 from 31 balls. Shreyas Iyer seemed good in his short stay at the crease but ended up nicking his own stumps while trying to steal a quick single off Lockie Ferguson.

The Indian captain put his feet down at the other end as Suryakumar Yadav started taking flight, bringing forth his ecstatic variation of 360-degree cricket, peppering the Kiwi bowlers to every single nook and cranny of the park handsomely.

SKY and Pandya stitched together a crucial 82 runs stand from just 41 balls where SKY emerged as the tormentor-in-chief while the Indian captain for the T20I series was happy taking a premium front row seat at the other end to stay witness to some explosive pyrotechnics lighting up the sky.

Despite being well poised for a 200-plus score, Tim Southee’s hat-trick in the final over claiming Hardik Pandya, Deepak Hooda and Washington Sundar dented India’s prospects of going higher while SKY stayed rooted at the other end with India finishing at 191 for the loss of 6.

Chasing 192, New Zealand were jolted to a jarring start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar took a step closer to finishing as the highest wicket-taker in a calendar year as he managed to produce the mis-hit early in the innings from Finn Allen with the ball angling away from the dynamic opener.

Despite Finn’s early departure, Devon Conway and Kane Williamson put up a fine show to help the hosts back on their feet and pile up a half-century stand for the second wicket. However, a returning Washington Sundar who went for 17 runs in his first over managed to trick Conway in striking him to the deep where Arshdeep Singh bagged his second catch of the night.

The fall of Conway gave way to the Indian bowlers hunting further inroads as a double whammy from Chahal and a quick strike from Deepak Hooda to remove Daryl Mitchell brought the hosts down to their knees. Mitchell was the last man to reach double-digit figures while Kane Williamson’s solitary battle met an end at the hands of Mohammed Siraj with the RCB ace producing a ripper to get rid of the Kiwi skipper.

India secured a staggering 65-run victory to surge 1-0 ahead in the series with eyes on the prize already as the final T20I awaits at the McLean Park. The first affair of the fray was washed away at Wellington while rain made a guest appearance at Mount Maunganui too, halting the contest for a brief period. Only time shall tell whether the heavens would crack open in the finale with the fate of the series still undecided.