Skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav produced sublime knocks as India bungled towards end before recovering in time to fashion a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the opening T20 International ushering in a new era in Indian cricket.
Martin Guptill (70 off 42) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50) took New Zealand to 164 for six on a good batting surface.
India's chase was set up by Rohit (48 off 36), who made his full-time captaincy debut, and Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40) who came in at number three in place of rested Virat Kohli.
The home team was cantering to a comfortable win but messed up the chase in the final four overs. In the end, with New Zealand running out of bowling options, the job was done in the 20th over bowled by part-time pacer Daryl Mitchell.
Debutant Venkatesh Iyer hit his first ball in international cricket for four before Rishabh Pant got the winning runs. Soon after the game, there were many reactions on the game posted by fans and former cricketer on Twitter. One of them was of Wasim Jaffer who took a potshots at the New Zealand team with a hilarious meme inspired by the film Munna Bhai MBBS. Take a look at all reactions below:
We are off to a winning start! _ _
The @ImRo45-led #TeamIndia seal a 5_-wicket victory in first @Paytm #INDvNZ T20I in Jaipur. _ _
Scorecard __ https://t.co/5lDM57TI6f pic.twitter.com/KXu28GDn3m
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2021
#T20WorldCup _ #INDvNZ _ pic.twitter.com/xyAz87slXg
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) November 17, 2021
Well done team india __ good win @surya_14kumar @ImRo45 well played .. congratulations #INDvsNZ
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 17, 2021
Excellent start to the new era of Indian cricket. Congratulations team India on the victory. #INDvNZ #RahulDravid #RohithSharma #TeamIndia @BCCI
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) November 17, 2021
Well done @surya_14kumar looking good. Keep going strong _
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) November 17, 2021
With inputs from PTI
