New Zealand vs India, 2nd T20I, Stats Review: Suryakumar Yadav’s golden year, Tim Southee’s second hat-trick and other stats

Suryakumar Yadav played yet another blinder of an innings as he slammed an unbeaten 111 off just 51 with 11 fours and seven sixes to power India to a mammoth total of 191/6 eventually winning the second T20I by 65 runs against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui. Veteran pace bowler Tim Southee picked up his second hat trick in the shortest international format but his side lost the encounter to go 1-0 down in the series with one game to go.

Talking about how the game panned out, skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to field first. Rishabh Pant opened the innings but failed to make an impact as he fell cheaply for just six off 13. His opening partner Ishan Kishan amassed 36 off 31 while Shreyas Iyer and captain Hardik Pandya both scored 13 each. The Indian innings was all about the no. one ranked T20I batter Suryakumar who yet again played some outrageous shots all around the park at the Bay Oval. The Kiwi bowlers had no answers whatsoever against him as he single-handedly took India’s total to above 190. Speedster Lockie Ferguson had a forgettable outing as he went away for 49 runs with two wickets in his spell.

In reply, dashing opener Finn Allen fell prey to Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a two-ball duck while Devon Conway amassed 25 off 22. Williamson yet again struggled to get going as he played out another slow innings of 61 off 52 at a strike rate of 117.31. The rest of the batting line-up failed to contribute with the BlackCaps bundling out for just 126 in 18.5 overs. Surprisingly, Deepak Hooda was the pick of the bowlers for the visitors for his spell of 4/10, the best by an Indian against the Kiwis in the format. Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal also snared two scalps as the Men in Blue took a 1-0 lead in the series heading into the final encounter on Tuesday. For his scintillating ton, Suryakumar grabbed the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 2^nd T20I between New Zealand and India:

3 – With his second century, Suryakumar Yadav became the third Indian to register more than one ton in T20Is. Rohit Sharma has struck four while KL Rahul also has two hundred to his name.

2 – Tim Southee grabbed his second hat trick in T20 internationals. He also became the second bowler after Lasith Malinga to pick two hat-tricks in the format.

7 – Suryakumar Yadav equaled Sikandar Raza (2022) at the top for winning the most POTM award (7) in T20Is in a calendar year. Suryakumar also surpassed Virat Kohli (six in 2016) for achieving the most award by an Indian in a year.

2/49 – Lockie Ferguson delivered his most expensive spell of 2/49 in the T20I format. Previously, he leaked 1/45 against India in 2021 and 2/45 against England this year.

111* - Suryakumar recorded the highest individual score of 111* by an Indian against New Zealand. Previously, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan smashed 80 each in the year 2017.

2 – Suryakumar became the second Indian after Rohit (2018) to slam two tons in the format in a calendar year.

9 – India registered their ninth consecutive T20I victory over New Zealand. (Excluding T20 WCs)

21 – Ish Sodhi is now joint-highest wicket-taker with Chris Jordan for picking up 21 wickets against India.

2042 – Kane Williamson reached the landmark of 2000 runs as captain. He became the third skipper after Aaron Finch (2236) and Babar Azam (2065) to achieve the feat.

4/10 – Deepak Hooda scripted the best bowling figures of 4/10 for India against the Kiwis. He surpassed Axar Patel’s spell of 3/9 in Kolkata in the year 2021.

53 – Finn Allen has managed to score just 53 runs in his last five innings at an average of 10.60 with the best score of 32.

1151 – Suryakumar has smashed 1151 runs in 30 innings at an average of 47.95 and a strike rate of 188.37 with two centuries and nine fifties in 2022.

4 – Shreyas Iyer became the fourth Indian to get dismissed hit-wicket in T20 internationals. KL Rahul against Sri Lanka in 2018, Harshal Patel against the Kiwis in 2021, and Hardik Pandya against England in T20 WC 2022 are the other three instances.

15.00 – Rishabh Pant has amassed 60 runs in four innings at an average of just 15.00 as an opener in T20Is.

11 – Suryakumar has now struck the second-most 50-plus scores (11) in a calendar year. Mohammad Rizwan tops the chart for hitting 13 in the year 2021.

2 – The no. one ranked batter Suryakumar also scripted the second-best score of 111* against New Zealand. Richard Levi tops the list for his knock of 117* in the year 2012.