Ishan Kishan's stormy century and Arshdeep's dangerous bowling, India wins series 4-1

Ishan Kishan's (103) first dazzling century, captain Suryakumar Yadav's (63) and Hardik Pandya's (42) smoky innings, and left-arm fast bowler Arshdeep Singh's (5 wickets for 51 runs) dangerous bowling helped India defeat New Zealand by 46 runs in the fifth and final T20 match on Saturday, winning the series 4-1.

India, batting first, scored a big total of 271 runs for the loss of five wickets, in response to which the New Zealand team was bowled out for 225 runs in 19.4 overs. Arshdeep proved expensive in his initial two overs but took four wickets in his last two overs to achieve the feat of taking five wickets in a T20 for the first time. Axar Patel took three wickets for 33 runs, while Varun Chakravarthy and Rinku Singh got one wicket each.

Ishan Kishan played an innings of 103 runs off 43 balls, which included six fours and ten sixes. Suryakumar Yadav scored 63 runs off 30 balls, including four fours and six sixes. Hardik Pandya scored 42 runs off 17 balls, hitting one four and four sixes. Shivaam Dube ended the innings with a six off the last ball.

India saw spectacular batting, with Abhishek Sharma (30) providing a quick start, although Sanju Samson (6) was once again slow to get out. Abhishek hit four fours and two sixes off 16 balls. Both openers were out in the power play, but the pace of the Indian innings did not slow down.

Ishan Kishan then launched a strong counterattack, targeting the New Zealand bowlers all around the field and turning the match in India's favor. Initially, Suryakumar Yadav supported him, then himself played aggressively to complete a quick half-century. The 137-run partnership between the two ended when Santner dismissed the Indian captain, but Ishan continued his attack and completed a dazzling century off just 42 balls. Later, Hardik Pandya played a rapid innings towards the end to further boost the score.

Chasing the target, New Zealand had scored 117 runs for the loss of one wicket, thanks to Finn Allen's stormy innings of 80 runs, but then wickets fell in a heap, and five wickets fell till 137 runs. After that, the New Zealand team could not recover and was bowled out for 225 runs.