The pre-match chatter was whether strong winds could pose a few problems at Wellington for both India and New Zealand. What transpired was a thunderstorm called Abhishek Sharma as he swept to his 11^th T20I century while the Men in Blue made an emphatic statement about their status as back-to-back world champions in this format on Tuesday.

If the first two games were a case of small margins with Mitchell Santner’s men promising an intense series before going down, the Abhishek Sharma-Vaibhav Sooryavanshi onslaught in the third must have left them completely demoralised. Up by an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, India may not like to take their feet off the pedal in the remaining two games as the hosts desperately look for a turnaround.   

While Abhishek, now the No.2 ranked T20 batter in the world after a long reign at the top continued to rise in stature as he overtook Virat Kohli’s number of centuries in this format (11), his 133-run partnership which Vaibhav now offers a refreshing option for Gautam Gambhir at the top of the order. While they will not have the luxury of such smaller square boundaries at Wellington and a bounce everywhere to suit their strokeplay, the strike rate of the duo told it’s own story.