In the inaugural Twenty20 international, played on Wednesday amid an ongoing racism crisis in Scottish cricket, Finn Allen scored 101 and Ish Sodhi claimed four for 28 to propel New Zealand to a 68-run victory against Scotland.
Martin Guptill Breaks Rohit Sharma’s world record:
Martin Guptill scored 40 runs in an opening partnership with Allen of 85 runs as the Black Caps totaled 225 for five from their 20 overs. James Neesham turned 30. In the shortest variant of the game, Guptill is now the top run-scorer. Unlike Rohit Sharma, who has 3379 runs in 128 innings, the right-handed batsman outperformed him. In 116 contests, Guptill has racked up 3399 runs.
Mitch Santner also went two for 23, adding to Sodhi’s four, as New Zealand won easily. On Friday, the visitors have the opportunity to win the two-game series.
Despite batting through their allotted time, the hosts could only muster 155 for eight runs, with Calum MacLeod leading the way with 33.
Despite Chris Greaves scoring 31 and George Munsey scoring 28 at the top of the innings on a day when the racism issue served as an unsettling backdrop, the home team was trounced.
A unbiased assessment revealed systematic racism in Scottish cricket’s management. After a seven-month inquiry started by charges from Scotland’s all-time top wicket-taker Majid Haq and his former colleague Qasim Sheikh, the report was finally released on Monday.
While Guptill was working on reaching the mark, his opening partner in Edinburgh added a mark of his own by being the fifth member of the New Zealand men’s team to score a hundred in a T20I match. With the support of Jimmy Neesham‘s late cameo, who finished on 30 off only nine balls, Allen reached his first T20I century in just 54 balls as New Zealand posted a whopping 225.
After a promising 62-run opening partnership between Calum MacLeod and George Munsey was broken up by Ish Sodhi, who finished with career-best T20I stats of 4/28, Scotland concluded on 157/8 in response.
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