Rohit Sharma struck a quick-fire 16th T20I half-century as India defeated New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20I against New Zealand to level three-match series 1-1 at Eden Gardens in Auckland on Friday.
After being asked to bowl first, an impressive bowling performance from India managed to restrict New Zealand to a total of 158-8 in their stipulated 20 overs. While Colin de Grandhomme notched up his maiden T20I half-century, Ross Taylor also made a significant contribution of 42 runs.
Krunal Pandya finished with the figures of three for 28 while Khaleel Ahmed, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shared four wickets among themselves.
In reply, India chased down the score with seven balls to spare. Rohit (50), Shikhar Dhawan (30), Rishabh Pant (40) were the top scorers.
Here are the highlights:
# India beat New Zealand by 7 wickets!
#TeamIndia win by 7 wickets. Level the three match series 1-1 #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/kudlWM0r9X
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 8, 2019
# MS Dhoni comes to bat for India!
# Wicket! Mitchell Santner strikes for New Zealand. The Kiwi bowler delivers a short of length outside off and Shankar (14) goes for the pull, only to hand a catch to Southee at deep midwicket. India 122/3 (14 overs)
# Vijay Shankar is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! New Zealand have bagged another big wicket in the form of Shikhar Dhawan. Ferguson bowls a nasty bouncer and Dhawan goes for a pull but ends up edging it in the air to hand a simple catch to point fielder de Grandhomme. India 88/2 (11 overs)
# Rishabh Pant is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! Soon after bringing up a half-century, Rohit ends up hitting a delivery from Ish Sodhi in the 10th over right down the throat of Tim Southee at the deep wicket. India 83/1 (10 overs)
WICKET! Ish Sodhi steps up to the plate and finally gets Rohit Sharma for 50 after a good catch from Tim Southee in the deep. 10 overs down and India are 84/1.
NZC LIVE CARD | https://t.co/9SHOtyagZ8#NZvIND #CulturesCombined pic.twitter.com/KghacB0aki
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 8, 2019
# Rohit brings up his 16th T20I half-century off just 28 balls. He achieves the feat by scoring a single off Mitchell Santner's delivery to square leg. He has now also surpassed New Zealand's Martin Guptill to become the leading run-scorer in the shortest format of the game with 2,238 runs to his name.
Hitman brings up his16th T20I FIFTY
He is now the leading run scorer in T20Is #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/RymkYwUwx0
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 8, 2019
# Runs are flowing in at a good pace for India as they have added another 23 runs in the last two overs. Rohit Sharma is looking impressive at the crease as he is dealing in boundaries and sixes. The Indian opener clobbered the first delivery of the third over from Lockie Ferguson over deep mid wicket for first six of the match. India 33/0 (4 overs)
# India kick off their chase on a decent note, scoring 10 runs in the first two overs. Rohit Sharma gets off the mark with a boundary in the second ball of the first over, while Dhawan opens his account by hitting the last delivery of the over wide of midwicket for a single. India 10/0 (2 overs)
# Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan to begin India's chase. Tim Southee starts the proceedings for New Zealand.
# The hosts set a 159-run target for India! New Zealand 158/8 (20 overs)
Innings Break#TeamIndia restrict New Zealand to a total of 158/8 in 20 overs.
Your thoughts? #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/q0ftKOrIay
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 8, 2019
# Wicket! Taylor-- who was looking good at the middle--fell just eight runs short of a half-century as he got run out following a direct hit from Vijay Shankar from long-on. Soon after Taylor's departure, Santner also went back to the pavilion for seven runs after he got an inside edge onto the stumps off Khaleel Ahmed's delivery in the 19th over. New Zealand 153/6 (19 overs)
# New Zealand are steadily approaching towards the 150-run mark as they have added another 16 runs in the last two overs. With just two more overs left, Taylor (38) and Santner (5) are looking to score as much runs as possible in order to help the hosts set a good target for India. New Zealand 145/5 (18 overs)
# Mitchell Santner is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! Just after scoring his maiden T20I half-century off just 27 balls, De Grandhomme hits the fourth delivery of the 16th over from Hardik Pandya straight to Rohit Sharma at extra cover. The home side are now down by five wickets. New Zealand 129/5 (16 overs)
# 16 runs off the last two overs for New Zealand. While Taylor is batting at 24, de Grandhomme is quickly approaching towards his half-century. India, on the other hand, have brought in Khaleel Ahmed into the attack as they look to bag some more wickets quickly in order to avoid New Zealand post a big total. New Zealand 121/4 (15 overs)
# New Zealand 105/4 (13 overs)
# Chahal bowls an expensive 11th over, conceding 19 runs to the home side. De Grandhomme is trying to give some relief to New Zealand after some quick wickets. The right-handed batsman first pulled back six runs by smashing the first delivery over the bowler's head before he hit one at the deep backward point and another over the long off to notch four and six runs, respectively. New Zealand 79/4 (11 overs)
# Colin de Grandhomme is the new batsman in for New Zealand!
#Wicket! The Men in Blue have bagged another big wicket in the form of Williamson (20). The New Zealand skipper was caught leg before wicket in the fifth delivery of the eight over as Krunal picked his third wicket of the match. New Zealand 51/4 (8 overs)
3 down now after 6. Daryl Mitchell given out LBW to Krunal Pandya. Reviews it believing he'd hit and there looks to be something on hot spot but review stays with the on field decision. 43/3 LIVE scoring | https://t.co/mxCvm1z0Ep #NZvIND
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 8, 2019
# Ross Taylor comes to bat for New Zealand. Yuzvendra Chahal comes into the attack for India.
# Wicket! Krunal Pandya strikes in his very first over of the match, dismissing Munro and Daryl Mitchell in quick successions at their respective scores of 12 and one. Munro smashed the second delivery of the sixth over very well over cover but didn't get the elevation as Rohit Sharma takes an impressive catch. Mitchell was then given out by leg before wicket off the last delivery of the over. The New Zealander went for the review, only to see him lose it. New Zealand 43/3 (6 overs)
# India have conceded 23 runs off the last two overs, including a six to Munro and three sixes to Williamson. Munro (12) and Williamson (14) are trying to settle at the middle and looking unaffected by Seifert's early dismissal. The Men in Blue, on the other hand, have brought in Hardik Pandya into the attack as they look to take a few more wickets. New Zealand 40/1 (5 overs)
# Skipper Kane Williams comes to bat at No.3!
# Wicket! Bhuvneshwar gives an early breakthrough to India by removing opener Seifert for 12 runs. The Indian bowls a delivery much closer to the stumps to deny any room to the New Zealander, who gets a thin inside edge to eventually hand a simple catch to MS Dhoni. New Zealand 17/1 (3 overs)
The hero of game 1 Tim Seifert dismissed early for 12 by Kumar, but Kane Williamson and Colin Munro are starting to fire up! 41/1 after 5 overs
NZC LIVE CARD | https://t.co/9SHOtyagZ8#NZvIND #CulturesCombined pic.twitter.com/hEv106Onju
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 8, 2019
# A good first over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he has conceded just three runs to New Zealand. Seifert gets off the mark by edging the second ball to the third man for a single before Munro also adds one run to his account with a flick on leg. Bhuvneshwar then conceded one more run from a wide. New Zealand 3/0 (1 over)
draws the edge as he bowls this full, down to Khaleel at third man. Banana swing early on from Bhuvi
# Tim Seifert and Colin Munro to begin New Zealand's innings while Bhuvneshwar Kumar will start the proceedings for India.
# The two sides have walked down the crease for the national anthems!
# Lineups:
India XI: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar, Rishabh Pant, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Khalil Ahmed
New Zealand XI: Tim Seifert, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Sott Kuggeleijn, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson
# Kane Williamson wins the toss and opts to bat first!
Coin up and Kane Williamson has won the toss at @edenparknz. Opting to bat first in the second T20I. #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/PpXllaIbZO
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 8, 2019
After kickstarting the three-match T20I series against New Zealand with a crushing defeat in Wellington, India will look to stage strong comeback when they take on the hosts in the second match at Eden Park, Auckland on Friday.
The Men in Blue slumped to their biggest loss in T20I in terms of runs when they were beaten by 80 runs at the hands of the Black Caps in the series-opener at Westpac Stadium.
India, who recently clinched a thumping five-match ODI series win by 4-1 against New Zealand, failed to click and were shockingly outplayed in all the departments by the Kane Williamson-led side in the series-opener.
The hosts set a huge score of 219 for six, thanks to opener Tim Seifert's quick-fire 43-ball 84 as well as Colin Munro and Kane Williamson's 34-run cameos.
Besides batsmen, New Zealand bowlers had also impressed--with Tim Southee finishing with the figures of three for 17 while Ish Sodhi and Santner too sharing four wickets.
Earlier, Indian stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma had stated that India should have chased down the target with eight batsmen being in the Playing XI.
"We have been good at chasing down targets which is why we play with eight batsmen. We believe that whatever the target is in front of us we can chase it down, but we just couldn't do it tonight," Sharma had said in a post-match presentation.
Heading into the second T20I, India will look to rebound strongly and clinch the victory in order to keep alive in the series.
New Zealand, on the other hand, will be keen to deliver a similar kind of performance as they gave in Wellington and seal the series with a game to spare.
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Shubman Gill, Vijay Shankar, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Siraj.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson(c), Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Scott Kuggeleijn, Colin Munro, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Blair Tickner, James Neesham
