Surya storm blows NZ away

Suryakumar Yadav during his 111 not out against NZ at Mount Maunganui yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

Suryakumar Yadav displayed his unmatched superiority in the shortest format with a breathtaking hundred as India outplayed New Zealand by 65 runs in the second T20 here on Sunday. Surya struck a sensational 111 not out off 51 balls for his second T20 century and fired India to 191 for six.

Promoted to No.3, the 32-year-old toyed with the bowlers to lift India to a challenging total after New Zealand put the visitors in to bat. He smashed boundaries and sixes at will, his last 64 runs coming off just 18 balls. His entertaining innings had 11 fours and seven sixes and his strike rate was an incredible 217.64.

Southee claims hat-trick

The last five overs yielded 72 runs. Tim Southee bowled a brilliant 20th over and stemmed the free flow of runs by taking a hat-trick. The hosts kept losing wickets in the run chase and never looked in the hunt. In the end, New Zealand were all out for 126 in 18.5 overs.

With the first game being washed out, India now lead the three match series 1-0 with the final game to be played on Tuesday. New Zealand were dealt a setback at the start of the chase when the dangerous Finn Allen went for an expansive drive off a Bhuvneshwar Kumar outswinger only to be caught at third man.

Williamson scores patient 61

Opener Devon Conway (25 off 22) and skipper Kane Williamson (61 off 52) stitched a 56-run stand but could not find the big hits that were needed to keep up with the asking rate. Conway was caught at deep backward square leg while going for the sweep against Washington Sundar. The big hitting Glenn Phillips had to do something special to bring New Zealand back in the game.

Also read: Switched from hard work to smart work to get India call-up: Suryakumar Yadav

He made his intentions clear with a crisp slog sweep off Yuzvendra Chahal that went all the way but two balls later, the same shot led to his downfall. With New Zealand struggling to 89 for five in the 14th over, the game was as good as over.

It was a good comeback game for Yuzvendra Chahal (2-26), who surprisingly did not get a single game in the recent World Cup. Part time off-spinner Deepak Hooda struck thrice in the 19th over and ended up with a four wicket haul. Skipper Hardik Pandya did not bowl.

Earlier, India's experiment to open with Rishabh Pant did not work as he fell after a sluggish six off 13 balls. While Surya was once again in a league of his own, other batters who showed intent, but could not go on were opener Ishan Kishan (36 off 31) and No.4 Shreyas Iyer (13 off nine).

Brief scores
India 191-6 in 20 overs (S Yadav 111', I Kishan 36; T Southee 3-34, L Ferguson 2-49) beat NZ 126 all out in 18.5 overs (K Williamson 61; D Hooda 4-10, M Siraj 2-24, Y Chahal 2-26) by 65 runs

1,151
No. of runs scored by Suryakumar Yadav in 30 T20I matches this year

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