When India defeated New Zealand by 168 runs in the third Twenty20 International on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, a number of records were broken. Shubman Gill scored his first T20I century, assisting India in setting a massive 235-run target for the visitors. India won the series 2-1 when the team led by Mitchell Santner was bowled out for 66.

India’s victory over a Test-playing nation by 168 runs now stands as the largest victory in terms of runs. Pakistan’s previous record, set in 2018, was barely beaten by the Men in Blue. The team led by Sarfaraz Khan won the first T20I of the Windies’ Pakistan tour by 143 runs. Pakistan’s first-innings score was 203/5. In the chase, the touring party was bowled out for 60 runs.

Earlier, Shubman made history by scoring his first T20I century against New Zealand. The batter from Punjab, who is 23 years old, joined the elite group of Indian batters who have scored a century in the game’s shortest format. Gill became the seventh Indian player to score a hundred in a T20I in just 54 attempts.

Shubman Gill likewise turned into the fifth Indian hitter to score 100 years across designs. He now joins the likes of Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli on the list.

Shubman surpassed Virat Kohli’s record for the highest score by an Indian in T20Is with his sensational shot. In the Asia Cup 2022, Kohli scored 122 runs without being run out, which was also his first century in a Twenty20 International. However, it was short-lived as Shubman defeated him on Wednesday with a magnificent 126-run* score.

Highest scores by an Indian in T20Is

• Shubman Gill – 126* vs New Zealand in 2023
• Virat Kohli – 122* vs Afghanistan in 2022
• Rohit Sharma – 118 vs Sri Lanka in 2017
• Suryakumar Yadav – 117 vs England in 2022
• Suryakumar Yadav – 112* vs Sri Lanka in 2023

“It feels good when you practice and it pays off. I was backing myself to score big. Didn’t happen in the Sri Lanka series and in the first T20 matches, but happy to see it work out now,”

Gill said in the post-match presentation.

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The opener also credited Hardik for backing and advising him after he failed in the first two games.

“Everybody has a different technique to hit sixes. Hardik bhai told me to play my game, not do anything extra and he kept backing me,”

he said.