Indian blaster’s insane 38-ball onslaught sparks stunning run chase... after scary near-miss

Indian opener Abhishek Sharma crunched a 35-ball century to make light work of a hefty New Zealand run chase and secure the visitors a series victory in Wellington.

India sewed up the five-match series with two games to spare, chasing down New Zealand’s total of 198 in just 13.2 overs, with Abhishek blasting 113 and opening partner Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 45.

The duo combined for a 133-run partnership in just 7.1 overs, obliterating the New Zealand bowling attack with one of the most destructive partnerships in T20 history.

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The first Jacob Duffy over went for 26 runs, and the openers never let up.

Abhishek hit nine fours and 11 sixes in his 38-ball knock, receiving a standing ovation when he eventually fell to the bowling of Kyle Jamieson.

The 26-year old’s stunning onslaught is the fifth-fastest T20I century in a match between two Full Member nations.

Remarkably, the record is held by Abhishek himself, who hit a 30-ball century barely a month ago against Afghanistan in Delhi.

The knock was also his 11th T20 century, taking him past Virat Kohli and Australian great David Warner into outright third behind West Indies legend Chris Gayle (22) and Pakistan star Babar Azam (13).

Sooryavanshi was promoted to open alongside Abhishek after batting at number three in the second T20, hitting four fours and four sixes in his 19-ball innings.

India won the toss for the third time in three matches and again elected to bowl.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh extracted prodigious seam from the pitch, beating the outside edge of New Zealand openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen.

Seifert was removed top-edging Singh for two, before Daryl Mitchell joined Allen and combined for an 86-run partnership.

Mitchell was quick to assess the conditions and moved around the crease in order to counteract the seam movement.

He seized on any shorter bowling with powerful strikes to the short square boundaries, hitting five fours and five sixes on his way to 89 from 52 balls.

However, there was a terrifying moment off Mitchell’s blade in the sixth over, when a six over mid-wicket narrowly missed a security guard, who had his back turned to the play while watching the crowd.

Allen made 40 from 25 balls before departing, and Mitchell found another powerful partner in Bevon Jacobs who hit an unbeaten 39 from 23 deliveries.

The fourth T20 is at Auckland’s Eden Park on Friday.