Match Thread: 2nd T20I – New Zealand vs India : Cricket

ICC’s No#1 T20I batsman SKY’s brilliance provided India yet another, this time a huge 65 run Victory against the Kiwis at Mount Mounganui stadium in New Zealand. The way all other batsmen including Kiwi’s on their own backyard struggled to score freely & Accelerate very well explains the masterclass of SKY’s innings today!

On a ground which never favored a Chasing team in a T20I match so far, due to the overcast conditions & a possible rain Looming around tempted Williamson to opt for Bowling after winning the toss. But India had a decent powerplay scoring 42/1, with Ishan blazing away at one end whereas Pant struggled at the other end and fell for just 6(13).

Despite rain playing spoilsport in between and pausing the game for more than 30 mins, we were Lucky enough to witness the SKY show or rather blitzkrieg from the 9’th over onwards, starting with his typical lofted Sweep over fine leg, fetching it far from outside off against Santner.

On the 10’th over, Ishan trying to slash one against Sodhi, got caught at short third 36(31). After 10 overs India were at 75/2. Surya & Shreyas had a brisk partnership of 41 but an improvising Shreyas got hit wicket when he was at 13(9). Hardik joined SKY in the middle on the 13th over when we were at 108/3.

Kiwis managed to sneak a couple of tight overs in the mean time, while Hardik seems to be struggling to time the ball as he normally does. On the 16th over SKY reached his 50 from 32 deliveries. After 16 overs, India could manage only 129/3.

But from 17’th over SKY Unleashed his Sorcery & started playing shots all across the ground. He was really toying with the bowlers & fielders & made a Mockery of whatever field set up the Kiwis came up with. 17, 18 & 22 runs followed in the next 3 overs respectively & we witnessed SKY scoring 51 runs from the last 19 deliveries he faced, taking him to his 2’nd T20I Century in the 19’th over.

While SKY was scoring close to 300 Strike rate during the last 2-3 overs, Hardik was struggling at the other end scoring only 9 from 10. At that point everyone including myself expected Pandya to give Strike to SKY on the 20’th over. But unluckily SKY never got Strike for the next 6 deliveries, while Pandya scored 2 twos & got out on the 3rd delivery.

Southee got 2 more wickets in the next 2 deliveries completing his Hatrick. India could manage only 5 runs in the 20’th over, while SKY remained unbeaten at the non Stickers end. India eventually managed 191/6 at the end, perhaps 15-20 runs less, if SKY had got the Strike in the last over.

Needing 192 at close to 10 per over, Kiwis lost their prolific young opener Finn Allen for a duck, while trying an expansive shot against an outswing delivery by Bhuvi. Even though Kiwis had a sedated powerplay especially with Bhuvi, Arshdeep & Siraj extracting some swing from the pitch upfront, Conway & Williamson bounced back with a decent 56 run first wicket partnership.

But once Conway fell against Washington Sundar for 25(22) on the 9th over, Kiwis never recovered from that, especially with the skyrocketing required rate. And our spinners tightening the screws, with Chahal leading from the front, taking the prized wickets of Glenn Philips & James Neesham, well supported by Sundar & Hooda at the other end.

A stiff neck prevented Skipper Pandya from Bowling today gave Hooda a chance to experiment with his off spin, eventually becoming the pick of Indian bowlers with a figure of 10/4 from his 2.5 overs. Only Williamson held at one end, but he too struggled to produce boundaries or big shots consistently like SKY did. They too eventually fell against a slow full toss & became the 2nd victim of Siraj after scoring 61(52).

Kiwis eventually got bundled out for just 126, giving India one of its biggest T20I wins in terms of runs margin. SKY was unanimously adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant 111*(51) studded with 7 Mighty sixes & 11 boundaries!!