GUWAHATI: Inspired bowling and a 14-ball fifty by opener Abhishek Sharma led India to a crushing eight-wicket series-clinching win over New Zealand in the third T20 international on Sunday.

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah with figures of 3-17 and leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2-18) kept New Zealand down to 153-9 after India elected to field first in Guwahati.

Left-handed Abhishek then hit an unbeaten 20-ball 68 and skipper Suryakumar Yadav made 57 not out as India romped home with 10 overs to spare to take an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

It was the ninth straight T20 series win for reigning T20 World Cup champions India.

The series is a warm-up ahead of the T20 World Cup starting on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka.

“This is the brand of cricket which we want to play, irrespective of our batting first or chasing,” said Suryakumar. “For example, if we are 24 for 3 or 44 for 4 tomorrow, we know how to bat.”

New Zealand quick Matt Henry bowled Sanju Samson with the first ball of India’s chase but the hosts soon took charge with Ishan Kishan and fellow left-hander Abhishek hitting a flurry of fours and sixes.

The pair put on 53 runs off 19 balls before Kishan fell for 28 off Ish Sodhi, but Abhishek raced to India’s second fastest in the format.

Abhishek missed out on his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s fastest T20 fifty record for India by two balls. Yuvraj scored a fifty in 12 balls in 2007.

Abhishek kept up the attack with Suryakumar, who hit his second successive fifty in his 26-ball knock. The duo put on an unbeaten stand of 102 to underline India’s status as the world’s number one-ranked T20 team.

India’s bowlers set up victory with the pacers taking three wickets inside first six overs including Harshit Rana dismissing Devon Conway for the fifth time in successive white-ball matches.

Rachin Ravindra fell for four to Hardik Pandya. Bumrah, who was named player of the match, then bowled wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert for 12 as New Zealand slumped to 34-3.

Glenn Phillips, who made 48 off 40 balls, and attempted to pull things back in a partnership of 54 for the fourth wicket with Mark Chapman before Bishnoi broke through.

Bishnoi, who made the Indian XI after nearly a year, had Chapman caught behind for 32 and later denied Phillips a half-century.

Wickets kept tumbling and despite skipper Mitchell Sant­ner’s 27 off 17 balls New Zealand fell well short of a testing total.

“I think I’ll give credit to India with the ball as well,” said Santner. “They made it really tough for us. Obviously wickets in the powerplay is key. And then for us to scrap to 150, we knew it would be a challenge from there.”

The fourth match is on Wed­ne­sday in Visakhapatnam.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND:

D. Conway c Pandya b Rana 1

T. Seifert b Bumrah 12

R. Ravindra c Bishnoi b Pandya 4

G. Phillips c Kishan b Bishnoi 48

M. Chapman c Samson b Bishnoi 32

D. Mitchell c Kishan b Pandya 14

M. Santner c Sharma b Bumrah 27

K. Jamieson b Bumrah 3

M. Henry run out 1

I. Sodhi not out 2

J. Duffy not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-1) 5

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 20 overs) 153

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Conway), 2-13 (Ravindra), 3-34 (Seifert), 4-86 (Chapman), 5-112 (Mitchell), 6-112 (Phillips), 7-132 (Jamieson), 8-134 (Henry), 9-144 (Santner)

BOWLING: Rana 4-0-35-1, Pandya 3-0-23-2, Bishnoi 4-0-18-2, Bumrah 4-0-17-3, K. Yadav 3-0-32-0 (1w), Dube 2-0-24-0

INDIA:

S. Samson b Henry 0

A. Sharma not out 68

I. Kishan c Chapman b Sodhi 28

S. Yadav not out 57

EXTRAS (W-2) 2

TOTAL (for two wickets, 10 overs) 155

DID NOT BAT: S. Dube, R. Singh, H. Pandya, H. Rana, R. Bishnoi, K. Yadav, J. Bumrah

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Samson), 2-53 (Kishan)

BOWLING: Henry 2-0-28-1, Duffy 2-0-38-0, Jamieson 1-0-17-0 (2w), Sodhi 2-0-28-1, Santner 2-0-28-0, Phillips 1-0-16-0

RESULT: India won by eight wickets.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Jasprit Bumrah

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2026