India beat New Zealand by four wickets with one ball to spare in the second T20I at Hagley Oval. They recovered from a collapse in the middle of the chase to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, in their 300th men’s T20I.
New Zealand Build a Total
India won the toss and chose to field again. The pace attack of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh was on the money, and India squeezed four overs from Naman Dhir, Nitish Reddy and Axar Patel for just one boundary, leaving New Zealand at 66/3 at the halfway mark. Glenn Phillips and Jacobs then rebuilt the innings, with Phillips scoring 70 and Jacobs 58, and New Zealand finished on 180/5. Arshdeep was the pick of the bowlers with 2/33.
A Rocky Chase
India’s chase started badly. Debutant Vaibhav Sooryavanshi fell for 4 off 8 balls, caught by Daryl Mitchell off Nathan Smith with India on 44/2. Mitchell Santner then broke the middle of the chase in the 11th over, bowling captain Shreyas Iyer for 7 and having Axar Patel caught two balls later for 11, leaving India at 70/5. New Zealand’s sloppy fielding gave four Indian batters a life, though, and India took advantage.
Tilak Varma Steadies the Ship
Tilak Varma held the innings together with an unbeaten 51 off 26 balls, and Dhir hit 31 in a quickfire stand. India were 113/6 after 15 overs but were home with one ball remaining, finishing on 181/6. Santner took 4/21 for New Zealand, but it was not enough. Tilak was named Player of the Match, having also taken two catches in the field.
What It Means
India lead the series 2-0, following their record chase of 226 in the opener on Thursday, and they have shown they can win from tough positions. New Zealand will rue their fielding, and they will need to sort it out quickly if they want to get back into the series. Tilak, Dhir and Reddy have also given India a strong answer to the question of who finishes the innings in Hardik Pandya’s
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