Kiwi cricketers celebrate the fall of a wicket during a T20I match. File Photo: AFP
India lost their seventh wicket in the 11th over, and the writing was
on the wall for the home side. Ish Sodhi captured his second of the
night as Jadeja was caught and bowled for a three-ball duck.
The tenth over of India’s chase saw another Indian batter fall prey
to Santner spin. Pandya was trapped in front for one run by Santner. TV
replays the ball would have clipped leg.
| India v New Zealand |
| India: 79 (18.1/20 over) |
| New Zealand: 126/7 (20.0/20 over) |
India lost the big wicket of Kohli when Ish Sodhi struck with his
first ball. Kohli got an outside edge to a big ripping leg-break and
perished for 23 runs in the ninth over.
Nathan McCullum took his second wicket in the fifth over, and sent India reeling in their chase.
Yuvraj Singh was caught and bowled for four runs. He came forward to
the flighted ball, the ball pitched just before it hit the bat and the
batsman chipped it cleanly to the bowler. The third umpire confirmed the
catch and sent back Yuvraj.
Kiwi bowler Santner gave his side plenty to cheer about after he took two important wickets in the third over of India’s chase.
Suresh Raina failed to fire tonight, moved back across the stumps,
closed the bat-face too early and was easily caught at mid-wicket. He
fell for a single run.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the third over, and India felt the
pressure getting to them. Santner took his first wicket when he fooled
Sharma with his length, the ball ripped past the outside edge and the
keeper completed the stumping after a fumble.
The Indian opener scored only five runs.
Wickets put Kiwis on top…
India lost their opener Shikhar Dhawan in the first over of their
chase of 127. Nathan McCullum trapped the batter in front for a single
run.
Dhawan tried to sweep but missed his shot and the ball struck him
flush on the pad. The umpire didn’t hesitate to rule in favour of the
bowler.
Earlier, A strong performance in the field by Indian cricketers
allowed them to restrict New Zealand to 126 for 7 in the first match of
the Super 10 phase of the ICC WT20 2016.
On a spinning Nagpur track where the ball wasn’t coming on, Indian
spinners as well as their medium-fast bowlers denied the Kiwi batters
pace to play with, and kept up the pressure from both ends. Five India
bowlers picked up a wicket each.
New Zealand were devoid of a substantial partnership, and 28 for the
fifth wicket was their best effort. Corey Anderson was the highest
scorer for his side with 34 from 42 balls.
Luke Ronchi gave the Kiwis some much-needed runs at the end with 21 from 11.
New Zealand lost their seventh wicket, that of Elliot when he was run out for nine runs in the last over of their innings.
Jadeja picked up his first wicket of the game in the 17th over. He
removed Santner for 18 runs when the batsman tried to open his
shoulders.
India’s Bumrah came back in the 16th over, delivered yorker after yorker and sent back Corey Anderson for a well-made 34.
Anderson tried to scoop the ball over fine leg but Bumrah uprooted
his middle stump. The Kiwi allrounder faced 42 balls and struck three
fours in his innings.
New Zealand lost the important wicket of Ross Taylor due to a brilliant piece of fielding by the bowler Raina in the 12th over.
Raina moved quickly in his follow-through, dived, tumbled and rolled
as he collected the ball and backhanded it on to the stumps. Taylor was a
long way out and was run out for 10 runs from 14 balls.
Kiwis stumble after the quick wickets…
The Kiwis were rattled again in the seventh over when their captain
Williamson lost his cool and gave away his wicket. Williamson stepped
out of the crease too early and was stumped comfortably in the end.
Raina sent back Williamson for eight runs only.
India got their second breakthrough not long after Ashwin struck, and
Ashish Nehra sent back Munron for seven runs in the second over.
Munro stepped out of his crease, tried to smash the ball down the
ground but only managed to mis-time his shot to Pandya at mid-off.
India calling the shots early…
New Zealand were rattled early in the first over when Ashwin sent back New Zealand opener Guptill with his second ball.
Although the umpire ruled in favour of the bowler in his lbw plea,
replays showed the ball was going over the stumps. Guptill had to leave
for six runs from two balls.
New Zealand captain won the toss and decided to bat first given the
conditions at Nagpur’s VCA stadium against India led by MS Dhoni in the
first game of the Super 10 phase of the ICC WT20 2016.
The Kiwis will begin life without Brendon McCullum, their charismatic
skipper. In his absence, Kane Williamson, will lead a team that's
packed with talented but underachieving players.
The batting looks settled and the squad has as many as three
spinners. Will they go with sheer pace or will they look to spin India
out? If pace is their answer, Adam Milne or Mitchell McClenaghan should
form a three pronged attack along with Tim Southee and Trent Boult.
India, on the other hand, have gone on record to say they are on
"auto-pilot" in the shortest format thanks to the exposure from the IPL.
Their top order is perhaps the strongest in the tournament and you
would think with Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya
lower down, there is enough of a failsafe should things go wrong.
The only reason there may be a change made to India's Asia
Cup-winning XI is if Mohammed Shami has impressed the management enough
to squeeze in ahead of Ashish Nehra.
India have won 10 out of 11 T20I matches since the start of the year.
In their only meeting in WT20s, New Zealand beat India by 10 runs at
Johannesburg in 2007. New Zealand and India have met each other only
once during the last seven years in T20Is with New Zealand winning that
match at Chennai by 1 run.
The surfaces in use for the qualifiers at Nagpur here have been dry.
Balls have stopped on the batsman a bit - even offcutters from the seam
bowlers.
India
MS Dhoni (Captain, Wicketkeeper), R Ashwin, JJ Bumrah, S Dhawan,
Harbhajan Singh, RA Jadeja, V Kohli, Mohammed Shami, P Negi, A Nehra, HH
Pandya, AM Rahane, SK Raina, RG Sharma and Yuvraj Singh
New Zealand
KS Williamson (Captain), CJ Anderson, TA Boult, GD Elliott, MJ
Guptill, MJ McClenaghan, NL McCullum, AF Milne, C Munro, HM Nicholls, L
Ronchi (Wicketkeeper), MJ Santner, IS Sodhi, TG Southee and LRPL Ta
