The Indian spin quartet has helped India defeat New Zealand in the 2nd T20 international by 6 wickets. With this win, India has leveled the series and the series decider will be played on February 01 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 4 wickets from the spinners and some handy contributions from the top-order batsmen helped India clinch the match with 1 ball to spare.
Mitchell Santner won the toss and decided to bat first given the history of Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, which assists slower bowlers. Finn Allen and Devon Conway started well with the Indian seamers operating in the first 3 overs. However, everything started falling apart as soon as Hardik introduced spin.
Hardik handed the ball to Chahal in the 3rd over of the innings and it all started going downhill for the Kiwis from there. Chahal picked up the wicket of Finn Allen and bowled a wicket-maiden over in the powerplay. Thereafter, wicket after wicket departed as the Indian spinners kept the noose around the opposition’s scoring rate. Eventually, New Zealand finished on 99 after their allotted 20 overs.
The Indian reply did not start as well as they would have wanted. Shubman Gill got dismissed early when the team score was 17. Ishan Kishan tried to get the scoring going with a 27-run partnership with Rahul Tripathi. After Ishan ran himself out, Tripathi followed soon. Washington played a couple of shots to break the shackles but he too was dismissed run out.
Eventually, it required the cool heads of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya to take their team across the line. The Kiwi bowlers bowled their hearts out and did a commendable job to stretch the game to the penultimate ball of the game. But, 99 was not enough and only some murky shot selection from the Indian batters helped the New Zealand bowlers stretch the game that long.
Suryakumar Yadav was adjudged the player of the match. The winner of the series decider will take the series home with a scoreline of 2-1.
