4 min readNew DelhiOct 27, 2026 06:54 PM ISTSanju Samson, Tilak Varma and Abhishek Sharma have been orchestrators of India's series win over New Zealand. (CREIMAS)The greatness of a team lies not only in racking up victories, but in winning differently and involving different protagonists. All three wins share some themes: India’s efficiency in chasing, the flying starts in the powerplay, Naman Dhir’s cameos, and the belief that they could pull themselves out of any deep hole. But dig beneath, and the many shades of the team emerge. All three chases were completed in different ways, which shows their flexibility and their mastery of varied conditions. The destination was the same each time. The paths were not.Sanju starts, Dhir finishesThe decks in New Zealand were supposed to shackle India’s free-scoring openers. It was not to be. The hosts compiled 225, and the ball swung devilishly in the first two overs. But Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma counterpunched, striking 93 runs in 5.4 overs. Sanju breezed to his half-century from 23 balls, cutting out risk by sticking to his percentage shots. Seamers, unless they erred, were hit down the ground in the conventional arc between cover and midwicket. The spinners were slugged through midwicket. Dhir is turning out to be the valuable cricketer India had long been searching for. (CREIMAS FOR BCCI)The powerplay launch proved its worth in hindsight, because the pitch became drier and the spinners began to strangle India’s batters. When Sanju departed for 67, dragging Mitchell Santner’s delivery onto the stumps, India stuttered momentarily. But Shreyas Iyer strung together his most important knock in recent times and Naman Dhir wielded the long handle to good effect. Dhir might never have walked in under more pressure, but cricketers arrive readymade, forged in the IPL fire. He showed his wares with a 15-ball 42.Middle-order muscle and magicLike Australia in their years of dominance in the longer formats, India could never be written off. On a sluggish surface, against an innocuously guileful Mitchell Santner, India withered. The left-arm spinner’s two-wicket over left them reeling: five men down, 110 runs needed from 54 balls. A difficult task, but Tilak Varma had willed himself to win. Tilak Varma of India and Nitish Kumar Reddy of India celebrate after winning the 2nd T20I match between New Zealand and India at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch, New Zealand on October 24, 2026. (CREIMAS)Batting down the order is an acquired craft rather than a natural calling for the batter from Hyderabad. But he has made a habit of winning games from the brink. He scraped and scratched at the start of the knock, but when the contest reached boiling point, he blew hot. With surgical authority, he whipped up 42 runs from 16 balls, after mustering only nine from the first 10. Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar Reddy were able accomplices, contributing 57 runs off 30 balls combined on a pitch where the ball was not always the batter’s best friend. The win, off the penultimate ball, showed that India are not top-heavy, nor always reliant on the top three. The lower middle order has both muscle and magic to win games.Abhishek’s thandavThe jostling to open the innings is intense. There are at least half a dozen competent openers waiting for a break. This time it was Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s turn. He crunched 44 off 19 balls. But the headline belonged to his senior partner, Abhishek Sharma. There had been debates over Sanju Samson making way for Sooryavanshi and not Sharma. Sharma proved why his spot remained intact, with a knock of unfathomable destruction.After they combined to pillage 26 runs off the first over, the joint-highest for an opening over, Sharma took over the steering wheel and zipped away. When the powerplay ended, India had cut more than half of the target and brought the required rate well below six. On days like these he wreaks raw havoc on bowlers. A 35-ball hundred showed he is the most frightening T20 opener in contemporary cricket.Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.