New Zealand vs Australia, 2021: Fifth T20I - Milestones for Martin Guptill, Tim Southee’s feat, Kane Williamson unique ducks and more stats

New Zealand have clinched the five-match T20I series by defeating the visitors in the final match by 7 wickets. The hosts made a good comeback after losing two consecutive matches and claimed the series 3-2 to their name. Australia posted a total of 142/8 in their 20 overs while batting first after winning the toss. Wicketkeeper Matthew Wade top-scored for them hitting 44 runs off 29 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes.

In response, Kiwi opener Martin Guptill played a blistering knock of 71 runs off 46 balls paving the way for an easy win for the home team. Guptill and Conway shared a 106-run partnership for the first wicket. Glenn Phillips contributed with a 34-run knock off just 16 balls which included 5 fours and 2 sixes. The hosts won the match in only 15.3 overs by 7 wickets.

Let’s look at important stats and records after the end of the fifth and final T20I between New Zealand and Australia:

1 – This is the first time that New Zealand have defeated Australia in a bilateral T20I series. Among the 4 series played earlier, 3 were won by Aussies while 1 was drawn.

2839 – Martin Guptill has surpassed Rohit Sharma in terms of most T20I runs and reached the second spot. He is now only behind Indian captain Virat Kohli who has accumulated 2928 runs at an average of 50.48.

2346 – Australian captain Aaron Finch with 2346 runs has now reached the fourth spot in the highest T20I run-getter list. Finch surpassed Shoaib Malik (2335) during his 36-run knock.

93 – Tim Southee picked up 2 wickets in this match taking his T20I wickets tally 93. He now has the third most wickets in T20Is surpassing Shakib Al Hasan (92). Only Lasith Malinga (107) and Shahid Afridi (98) are ahead of Southee on the list.

250 – Martin Guptill completed 250 fours in T20Is during his brilliant knock. He is the third player to achieve the milestone after Virat Kohli (265) and Paul Stirling (251).

13 – Ish Sodhi who was awarded the player of the series award for his wonderful performance in the series broke the record for most wickets in a T20I series for New Zealand. He took 13 wickets in the series and crossed Daniel Vettori and Mitchell Santner who had 11 wickets each earlier.

106 – With a 106-run partnership with Devon Conway for the first wicket, Martin Guptill now has been part of 8 hundred partnerships in T20Is. This is most for any player in the shortest format of the game. Australian opener David Warner has been involved in 7century partnerships in T20Is.

3 – Kane Williamson was dismissed for a duck for the third time in T20Is. Riley Meredith is the third bowler after Anwar Ali and Rumman Raees to send Williamson to the pavilion without scoring. Interestingly, all these three have been golden ducks for the Kiwi captain. 

19 – Martin Guptill hit his 19th fifty+ score in T20Is and reached joint third spot in the list along with David Warner. Only Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, with 25 fifty+ scores, are ahead.

27 – New Zealand chased down the target of 143 runs with 27 balls to spare. This is their second-biggest win while chasing 140+ score in terms of balls remaining. They had earlier chased down a 143-run target in only 10 overs against Sri Lanka in 2016.