India Thrashes NZ In 1st T20I: India defeated New Zealand in convincing fashion in the first T20I, taking a lead in this five-match series as they dominated with the bat.
Today was the first of five India vs New Zealand T20Is, played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The Kiwis won the toss and decided to bowl first on a pitch that looked conducive to batting, with expected dewfall later in the evening.
India Thrashes NZ In 1st T20I
For India, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma opened the batting. Sanju lost his wicket early, just in the second over. It was a soft dismissal by Kyle Jamieson.
Ishan Kishan made his return to the Indian Cricket Team after more than two years. However, this return did not amount to much, as he was dismissed in the third over by Jacob Duffy.
Next came an impressive partnership between Abhishek Sharma and captain Suryakumar Yadav. The two explosive batters stayed on the pitch for the next eight overs and scored 99 runs together. Sharma mostly did this quick scoring, while Yadav, during this partnership, made 33 off 22 before getting out in the 11th over at the hands of Mitchell Santner.
In the very next over, Abhishek, after playing a scintillating knock of 84 off 35, was dismissed by Isha Sodhi after hitting two sixes earlier in the over.
Shivam Dube had a quickfire cameo of nine off four, while the pair of Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh were mostly responsible for keeping up the run rate during this part of the inning.
Hardik, before his wicket in the 16th over, made 25 off 16. Meanwhile, Rinku Singh was the death overs expert that the Indian Cricket Team needed. He, while batting with Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh in the last few overs of the inning, made 44 off 20, remaining unbeaten and taking the team’s score to 238/7 at the end of their allotted 20 overs.
In response, New Zealand started their inning in the worst way possible, as on the second ball of the first over, opener Devon Conway was caught behind for a duck. Dismissed by Arshdeep Singh, thanks to a brilliant catch by wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.
Rachin Ravindra was next, being dismissed by Hardik Pandya in the second over for one off five.
Next came the partnership that took the Blackcaps out of the powerplay. The pair of Tim Robinson and Glenn Phillips batted till the end of the six-over mark and took the team past 50 runs. Robinson was dismissed in the seventh over by Varun Chakravarthy for 21 off 15.
The fourth-wicket partnership was the biggest one for the Kiwis in this match. Phillips, along with Mark Chapman, picked the run rate up and brought it to about 10 rpo. By the time Phillips was dismissed after making a solid 78 off 40 in the 14th over, the team score was 131/4.
Chapman departed in the very next over for 39 off 24, and it seemed nigh on impossible for New Zealand to chase the humongous target down.
The Mitchells, that being Daryl Mitchell and Captain Mitchell Santner, did provide some resistance towards the end of the match, making 28 off 18 and 20 off 13, respectively. But these scores were not enough, as the Kiwis were restricted to 190/7 in 20 overs.
India won the match by 48 runs, taking a lead in this India vs New Zealand series after losing an ODI series at home to the Blackcaps for the first time earlier this month. For his fine knock of 84 off 35, Abhishek Sharma was named the Player of the Match.
The second T20I of this series will be played at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Raipur on Friday, January 23.
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