Kolkata, November 21st : .Rohit Sharma’s remarkable fifty, and Axar Patel’s clinical bowling performances (3/9) led India to victory by 73 runs over New Zealand.
This result gave India a clean sweep of the series.It was played at the Eden Gardens. India won this series for the second time against New Zealand.They had previously won the T20I series 5-0 at home in January 2020.
Sharma was the full-time skipper, and Rahul Dravid was the new head coach.They passed the series with flying colours.
India reached a respectable 184-7 after 20 overs thanks to captain Sharma’s fifty (56 runs off 31 balls).The lower-order also took a late charge and scored a good fifty.
Sharma (29 runs), Venkatesh Iyer (20 runs) and Shreyas Iyer (25) all had good starts, but failed to capitalize.
New Zealand, who were chasing a difficult target, got off to an awful start when they lost three wickets in the Power-play.
Sharma brought Axar Patel in to the attack after two long overs of pace.He delivered for his captain.
Axar scored three runs to take out Daryl Mitchell ((5)), Mark Chapman ((0)) and Glenn Phillips ((0)).This left New Zealand at 37/3 after six overs.
Martin Guptill (51), despite losing his three partner in rapid succession, kept playing.Together with Tim Seifert (17), he kept the scoreboard moving as the Kiwis crossed the 50 mark in the ninth over.
Guptill continued his aggressive batting and reached his 20th T20I century in 34 runs under pressure.He kept New Zealand ahead of this race but had to continue with the same strike rate for the remainder.Guptill took Yuzvendrachahal to the cleaners.Sharma allowed him to play an extra over, but he still managed to take the wicket.
Guptill was out and the Black Caps lost wickets every other turn.Lockie Ferguson (14), Tim Seifert (17) tried their best to bat for the Kiwis, but it was not enough to stop them losing a significant amount of runs.New Zealand lost by 73 runs after being bowled out at the death for 111 runs in 17.2 overs.
Sharma, as full-time skipper, used his resources well.Harshal Patel also continued his excellent showing by picking up two wickets.
VenkateshIyer was also able to take a bowl in this series for the first-time.
India got off to a great start with opener Sharma and Ishan.
They looked amazing and were a great host, getting India to 69/0 by the end of Powerplay.
After the field restrictions had been lifted, however, the Black Caps brought back spinners and they did great.
In the seventh over, Santner (the Kiwis’ stand in captain) dismissed Suryakumar Yadav (0), and Ishan Kishan (29) in very few deliveries.This allowed India to win the match.
Rishabh Pan and captain Sharma had to find a new partnership after two wickets fell in rapid succession.Pant ((4)), who was having a bad start in the middle of the match, missed Santner’s delivery and got out.India were at 83/3 with nine overs remaining.
Sharma and ShreyasIyer, who came in at No 5 respectively, tried to get India back into the match by rotating the strike frequently.
The Indian captain scored his 26th T20I fifty with an impressive four runs in 27 deliveries.India asked for their captain to continue even after his 50th, but IshSodhi returned Sharma (56) with an excellent caught-and-bowled effort.
India reached 103-4 after 11.2 overs.Two Iyers, Venkatesh and Shreyas out in the middle, were needed to stabilize the innings.After taking their time, they settled in and struck occasional boundaries to take India to 133/4.
Both Iyers were left with five overs remaining.They decided to end the chains but failed and were both dismissed consecutively.
Trent Boult was able to get rid of Venkatesh (20), in the final ball of 16 over.Adam Milne, however, dismissed Shreyas IIyer (25) in his first delivery of 17 over.
India suffered a loss of momentum in the final overs.It was now time for Axar and Harshal to lead the host to a winnable score.
Harshal who is the Haryana’s top batsman, played an average appearance of 18 runs, before being outed by Lockie Ferguson in 19th over.
Deepak Chahar (21), also scored two boundaries and an outfield six to bring India to Eden Gardens, where it is now at 184-7.
Brief scores:
India won India by 184 runs in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 56; Ishan Kishan 29, Mitchell Santner 227); New Zealand lost 111 in 17.2 innings (Martin Guptill, Tim Seifert 17 and Axar Patel 3-9).
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