India Beats NZ In The First T20I

Just a couple of weeks ago, New Zealand thrashed India in the T20 World Cup’s league game. Now, Team India has taken sweet revenge on the Kiwis by beating them in the first T20I of the ongoing bilateral series. Rohit Sharma and co. defeated Tim Southe and his men with 5 wickets in a thrilling chase.

After losing the toss, New Zealand was asked to bat first. They got a disastrous start as opener Daryl Mitchell got out in the very first over. But Martin Guptill (70) and Chapman (63) settled the innings and made a partnership of 109 runs for the second wicket. In the 14th over, India got a breakthrough with the wicket of Chapman.

Then, all the Kiwi batters started going back to the pavilion one by one. As a result, they couldn’t post a high total and were settled for a moderate total of 164/6. Ashwin (2/23) and Bhuvneshwar (2/24) picked up two wickets each for India.

Team India got a flying start while chasing the target of 165 runs. Openers Rohit Sharma (48) and KL Rahul made a partnership of 50 runs in just 5 overs. After Rahul’s dismissal, Rohit and Surya Kumar Yadav (62) made a partnership of 59 runs. Rohit Sharma got dismissed while he was nearing his half-century mark. But SKY scored his half-century.

Soon, New Zealand came back strong and scalped the wickets of SKY and Shreyas Iyer. India needed 10 runs off the last over. With the help of Pant and Venkatesh Iyer’s boundaries, India was able to chase the target with 2 balls remaining. Thus, it made 166/5 in 19.4 overs. The next T20I will be held on Friday in Ranchi.