New Zealand looked to have bounced back in the second T20I at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, but India kept it late as a dramatic knock from Tilak Varma helped India chase 181 runs in the final over of the match. The conditions weren’t tailor-made for the batters to play an aggressive brand of cricket and that put India on the back foot early on, but the gamble of playing an extra batter finally worked as India won the match to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Meanwhile, India won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. They had a rough start, with Tim Seifert, Finn Allen and Daryl Mitchell failing to make any sort of impact. The trio departed for 7, 16 and 6 runs, respectively, as New Zealand were reduced to 41/3 at one stage. Since then, Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs took over the responsibility and didn’t just bring New Zealand back into the contest, but also allowed them to post a defendable score on the board.
Both cricketers took some time to settle down early on, before putting the pressure back on the Indian bowlers. Phillips ended up scoring 70 runs off 43 balls, with the help of four boundaries and four maximums, while Jacobs scored 58 runs off 46. For India, Arshdeep Singh picked up two, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked his first international wicket in four years. However, he conceded 50 runs in his four overs, which is certainly a concern.
Flop show from India’s top order
India openers Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma struggled to give a rapid start, as they are known for. Samson played a maiden over to start with, while Abhishek could have gone back to the pavilion in the second over itself, but a no-ball from Jacob Duffy saved him.
For Samson, nothing was working in the middle. The keeper-batter failed to provide any sort of impact before walking back, scoring 14 runs off 17 balls. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who replaced injured Ishan Kishan, then joined in the middle, but the 15-year-old added only four off eight balls.
The onus then fell on captain Shreyas Iyer and Abhishek, but neither could keep the scoreboard ticking, departing for 7 and 27 runs, respectively. Naman Dhir was the only cricketer to play a fearless brand of cricket, but the Punjab batter failed to keep up with the momentum. He departed for 31 runs off 17 balls, which slightly brought the visitors into the contest.
After he was dismissed, all eyes were on Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy and that partnership helped India get over the line, which looked difficult at one stage. Tilak, in particular, went berserk in the final three overs, as he remained unbeaten for 51 runs off 26 balls. Nitish played a perfect role of the second fiddle, scoring 26 off 13.
Notably, New Zealand seemed to be well in control of the match, with captain Mitchell Santner picking up a four-wicket haul, but once Tilak got going, the match slipped away from their hands.