Change in captain has brought a change in luck for Team India, as Rohit Sharma won his second consecutive toss and decided to bowl first against New Zealand in the second match of the T20I series. India made a forced change, with Harshal Patel making his India debut in place of Mohammed Siraj, who split his webbing in the first T20I. New Zealand made three changes, with Todd Astle, Rachin Ravindra, and Lockie Ferguson making way for Ish Sodhi, James Neesham, and Adam Milne.
New Zealand’s cracking start to Powerplay
Martin Guptill started the match from where he left off in the first match, taking on pace bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar. Chahar finally got Guptill in the fifth over, who departed for an excellent 31 off just 15 balls. Along with Daryl Mitchell, Guptill laid a perfect platform for New Zealand in the Powerplay, with the Kiwis ending at 64-1.
New Zealand looked set for a huge total, but the Indian spinners, along with Harshal Patel, tightened the screws in the middle overs. Between overs 7-12, India conceded just 30 runs, with Harshal Patel picking up his maiden wicket in the form of Mitchell. This effort from Indian bowlers, especially the spinners, was even more commendable, considering how the dew affected the entire match.
After a strong start, New Zealand squandered away the opportunity in the middle-overs, but Glenn Phillips struck 34 runs off just 21 balls to lift his team to a competitive total. Harshal Patel was the stand-out pace bowler for India, picking up 2-25 in his first international match. Ashwin was the pick of the spinners, conceding just 19 runs at 4.75 RPO, picking up one wicket.
Indian openers make it a cakewalk
A target of 154 was never going to be easy to defend, especially with heavy dew on the field, and Indian openers made it even more difficult by scoring 45 runs in the powerplay. Sharma and KL Rahul combined to register their fifth consecutive 50+ partnership, and the partnership was broken after they put up 117 runs on the board. It was the pair’s fifth 100-run partnership, joint-most with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
NZ bowlers did try to exert some pressure on the Indian opening pair between overs 5-9, where they conceded just 31 runs at just 6.2 RPO. But a below-par score, with 10 wickets in hand, aided by batting-friendly conditions, meant that India were never really unsettled.
Sharma followed his usual T20 template – initially biding his time, and teeing off once set. At one stage, the Indian skipper was on 16 runs off 18 balls but then went on to add 39 runs off his next 18, finishing with a superlative 55 runs off 38 balls that included five huge Sixes and a Four. Rahul top-scored with a fluent 49-ball 65.
Apart from NZ skipper Tim Southee, who finished with excellent figures of 3-16 off his four overs, no bowler looked like picking up a wicket. As a result, India finished off the chase in the 18th over with seven wickets to spare and won the three-match series even before the final match. Harshal Patel, for his brilliant bowling display, was adjudged the “Player of the Match’.