Ind vs NZ: Openers KL Rahul (49-ball 65) and Rohit Sharma (36-ball 55) stitched a solid 100-plus opening stand after a remarkable bowling effort from bowlers to help India beat New Zealand by seven wickets at JSCA International Stadium on Friday and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. As much as the first T20I, it was the bowling that won the game for India.
With the presence of dew from the first part of the match, the Indian bowlers came up with a fiery bowling performance to keep the Black Caps below 155. For New Zealand, Trent Boult was the bowlers’ choice as he finished with its digits of (3/16).
Earlier, Rohit Sharma invited New Zealand to strike first after winning their second consecutive toss in the series. A brilliant display of bow by Indian bowlers limited New Zealand to 153/6. The due was so much in Ranchi that bowlers had to use a towel to dry the ball off after almost every delivery, but despite this, the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel put on a great show in the middle to keep the Kiwis on their backs.
Harshal Patel, who played his very first T20 International for India, was also brilliant with the white ball. The young paceman kept the Kiwi hitters in check with an offensive bowling display and ended up taking two wickets for just 25 runs. While Glenn Philips scored the most 34 points for his team, Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell contributed with 31 runs each.
IND playing XI: KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Harshal Patel
NZ playing XI: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (week), James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee (c), Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult.
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