IND vs NZ 3rd T20I: Abhishek's 35-ball 100 seals series

India beat New Zealand by six wickets in the 3rd T20I at Hnry Stadium, Wellington, on Tuesday, chasing 199 in just 13.2 overs. The win gives India an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, with games in Auckland and a fifth T20I still to come. Abhishek Sharma made 113 off 38 balls and was named player of the match.

New Zealand's 198 for 3 would have won most T20Is. India had 100 on the board after five overs and 118 without loss at the end of the powerplay, and the chase was effectively over by drinks.

IND vs NZ 3rd T20I: the scores

• New Zealand 198/3 in 20 overs (Daryl Mitchell 89* off 52, Finn Allen 40 off 25, Bevon Jacobs 39* off 23; Arshdeep Singh 1/33, Axar Patel 1/36, Nitish Kumar Reddy 1/38)
• India 199/4 in 13.2 overs (Abhishek Sharma 113 off 38, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 45 off 19, Sanju Samson 18 off 13; Kyle Jamieson 2/45, Matthew Fisher 1/23, Mitchell Santner 1/17)
• Result: India won by 6 wickets with 40 balls to spare. India lead the series 3-0.
• Toss: India won the toss and chose to bowl.
• Player of the match: Abhishek Sharma

Abhishek Sharma's 113 off 38, ball by ball

Abhishek hit 11 sixes and nine fours. That is 102 of his 113 runs in boundaries. Our ball-by-ball commentary shows how quickly it built:

• 7 off 2 balls. He hit his first ball, from Jacob Duffy, over cover for six.
• 24 off 7. Two sixes and a four in a row off Adam Milne in the second over.
• 39 off 11. Michael Bracewell came on in the third over and went for four, six, four off his first three balls to Abhishek.
• 55 off 15. Back-to-back sixes off Kyle Jamieson took him to his fifty off the 15th ball he faced.
• 95 off 29. Two sixes off Bracewell straight after the powerplay and two more off Matthew Fisher in the eighth over, one of them off a free hit. Santner dropped him on 92, a skier that swirled out of his hands.
• 99 off 34. The only quiet patch of his innings. Santner bowled tight, and Abhishek took four singles off five balls.
• 100 off 35. A top edge off Jamieson flew past the keeper for four. He followed it with a six and a four, and was caught by Glenn Phillips in the deep off the next ball, going for another six.

A 35-ball hundred equals Rohit Sharma's 35-ball century against Sri Lanka in 2017 for the fastest by an India men's batter in T20Is. In this series, Abhishek has 169 runs off 71 balls, a strike rate of 238.

How India got to 100 in five overs

India's opening pair added 133 in 7.1 overs. The over-by-over shows that New Zealand never had a quiet over in the first eight:

• Over 1 (Duffy): 26 runs. Vaibhav hit a four and a six, Abhishek a six off his first ball, and there was a no-ball and a five-wide bouncer. 26/0
• Over 2 (Milne): 17 runs. 43/0
• Over 3 (Bracewell): 21 runs. 64/0
• Over 4 (Jamieson): 20 runs, including Abhishek's fifty. 84/0
• Over 5 (Milne): 16 runs. The last ball, a four from Abhishek over cover, brought up the team's 100. 100/0
• Over 6 (Duffy): 18 runs, all to Vaibhav (4, 4, 0, 0, 4, 6). 118/0
• Over 7 (Bracewell): 15 runs. 133/0
• Over 8 (Fisher): 23 runs and the wicket of Vaibhav. 156/1

India were 156 for 1 after eight overs, a run rate of 19.5, and needed 43 off 72 balls. From there they took it easy: Santner's ninth over cost six, and India were 178 for 2 when Abhishek fell at the end of the 10th.

Reaching 100 in five overs (30 balls) is listed by Outlook India as the fastest team hundred in men's T20Is, and 118 is listed as the highest powerplay score in men's T20Is. The previous best powerplay was Romania's 116.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's 45 off 19

Vaibhav was in the side again because Ishan Kishan was still out with an adductor strain. This time he opened, with Samson dropping to No. 3. He made 45 off 19 balls with four fours and four sixes, a strike rate of 237, and it was his start that set up the first over.

He also took the sixth over on his own. Duffy bowled all six balls to him and he hit 18 off them, after Abhishek had been on strike for most of the powerplay. Fisher had him caught by Daryl Mitchell first ball of the eighth over.

It was Vaibhav's best innings of the tour. He made 4 off 8 at No. 3 in Christchurch. The opening role seems to suit him better, and with two left-handers going hard from ball one, New Zealand had nowhere to hide their bowlers.

New Zealand's 198: Mitchell's 89 not out

New Zealand were 4 for 1 in the second over when Arshdeep had Tim Seifert caught by Axar Patel. Finn Allen (40 off 25, five sixes) and Daryl Mitchell then added 86 for the second wicket at more than 10 an over before Nitish Kumar Reddy had Allen caught by a diving Naman Dhir at long-on.

Glenn Phillips made 17 and was caught and bowled by Axar Patel, which left New Zealand 123 for 3 after 12 overs. India's bowlers did well from there. Mitchell and Bevon Jacobs added an unbroken 75, but New Zealand scored only 75 off the last eight overs. Mitchell's 89 not out off 52 included five fours and five sixes.

India's bowling from the scorecard:

• Arshdeep Singh 4-0-33-1. He took the first wicket, and after Mitchell hit the first ball of his third over for six, he bowled three yorkers in a row for three dot balls.
• Axar Patel 4-0-36-1, including the wicket of Phillips.
• Nitish Kumar Reddy 4-0-38-1. His 15th over cost four, but Mitchell hit his last over, the 19th, for 15.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-40-0. In three games back he has 1 for 139 in 12 overs, an economy of 11.6.
• Prince Yadav 4-0-44-0.

What went wrong for New Zealand

New Zealand made 180 or more in all three games and lost all three. Their pace attack has been the problem all series, and on Tuesday it got worse. Duffy (2-0-44-0), Milne (2-0-33-0) and Fisher (1-0-23-1) went for 100 runs in five overs. Jamieson took 2 for 45 in 3.2 overs. Only Mitchell Santner (3-0-17-1) went at less than 12 an over.

Santner now has seven wickets in the series at an economy of 7.0. The rest of New Zealand's bowlers have conceded 12.6 an over.

New Zealand also missed Abhishek on 92. India needed 51 off 75 balls at the time, so it would not have changed the result.

What it means for India

• The series is won with two games to play. It is India's third T20I series win in a row in New Zealand.
• The top order has fired. India's openers had a quiet game in Christchurch, but in Wellington Abhishek and Vaibhav put on 133 inside eight overs.
• Shreyas Iyer is the worry. The captain made 5 off 10 and was caught in the deep off Santner trying to finish the game. He has 54 runs off 49 balls in the series.
• The bowling needs answers. Every India bowler went at 8.25 an over or more, and Bhuvneshwar is going at 11.6 an over in the series. With the series won, India can try Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy or Mayank Yadav in Auckland.

What comes next

The 4th T20I is at Eden Park, Auckland, on Friday, 30 October, at 12:30 PM IST. It is live on Sony Sports Ten 1 (English) and Ten 3 (Hindi), and streams on SonyLIV. Follow it live on TryBall's match page for the toss, playing XIs, live score and ball-by-ball commentary.