After breaking the jinx against New Zealand on November 1, Virat Kohli & Co. continued their winning streak with the 7th bilateral series victory at home. After losing the 2nd match of the series in Rajkot, India made a phenomenal comeback and defeated New Zealand in the third and the decider T20I by 6 runs, conquering the first ever T20I series against them by 2-1 on the Indian soil.
Earlier, continuous drizzling in Thiruvananthapuram delayed the game by 2hrs 30 min from it’s scheduled time and the overs were reduced to 8 0vers aside. Kiwi skipper won the third consecutive toss in this T20I series and elected to bowl first.
New Zealand wins the toss, elects to bowl first #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/mWwN0Yv0YV
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 7, 2017
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave a stable start to the team and added 14 overs in the first two overs. But the doom hit the Indian team in the third over when the duo of Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner removed both the openers back to back and India were reduced to 15/2.
Wicket! Dhawan gets an edge off Southee and Santner takes a safe catch. India 15-1 after 2.2 overs! #indvnz pic.twitter.com/KD7OVcxw8L
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 7, 2017
In the next over, Virat Kohli lost his wicket to Ish Sodhi and had to return pavilion after scoring 13 off 6 balls. After Kohli’s dismissal, Manish Pandey and Shreyas Iyer played added 18 runs for the 4th wicket and played some good shots. However, in the 6th, Sodhi struck again and dismissed Iyer who could score only 6 runs off 6 balls.
Wicket. Sodhi gets his second, with Iyer sending one to the heavens and Guptill underneath to catch it. India 50-4 after 6 overs #indvnz pic.twitter.com/lBuBzkuTd7
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 7, 2017
Next, India lost Manish Pandey (17) in the last over and managed to put just 67 runs on the board by the end of 8 overs.
Innings Break! India 67/5 in 8 overs #INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/vfblQefhHD
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 7, 2017
Six runs from Boult’s final over means India finish their 8 overs 67-5 #indvnz pic.twitter.com/dh702clXHL
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 7, 2017
In order to chase an easy target of 68 runs, Kiwi openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro came into bat. Everyone was aware what Munro did in the last match, however, the duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah had something different in their minds. Despite conceding a gigantic six off the 2nd ball of the first over, Bhuvi clean bowled Martin Guptill (1). In the very next over, Bumrah struck and hunted Munro (7) down and the Kiwis were reduced to 8/2.
Wicket. Munro falls to Bumrah and India have the BLACKCAPS 11-2 after 2 overs #indvnz pic.twitter.com/qKZ0hcMOB0
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 7, 2017
Later, skipper Kane Williamson (8) and wicket-keeper Glenn Phillips (11) added 20 runs for the third wicket. They were supposed to take inning ahead but Hardik Pandya’s direct hit ran Williamson out and in the very next ball, Kuldeep Yadav dismissed Phillips on a delivery fetched from outside off.
Williamson falls and so does Phillips. The BLACKCAPS are 28-4. Require 40 from 20 balls #indvnz pic.twitter.com/BRDiAunyJg
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) November 7, 2017
Kiwi all-rounder Collin de Grandhomme (17*) tried to the game close but lacked a solid support from the other end. Henry Nichols was caught by Shreyas Iyer in the fine leg area and lost his wicket to Bumrah in the 7th over. In the same over, the Kiwis had another blow as they lost Tom Bruce who as MS Dhoni ran him out.
New Zealand needed 19 runs to win from the last over while Hardik Pandya came into the bowling attack. The Kiwis scored 12 runs in that over but fell short by 6 more runs and lost the game and series to India.
For interesting videos from InUth, follow us on Youtube.com/InUthdotcom
