MUNRO SLAMS TON AS NEW ZEALAND WIN
Kiwis hit back hard to level three match Twenty20 series 1-1
Rajkot, Nov. 4: Colin Munro stood tall with a century and one wicket as New Zealand beat India by 40 runs in the second Twenty20 international to level the series at 1-1 in Rajkot on Saturday.
Chasing 197 for victory, India finished on 156-7 in their 20 overs despite a 42ball 65 from skipper Virat Kohli. Paceman Trent Boult took four wickets.
Munro, after a fine knock with the bat, got the wicket of Shreyas Iyer to make the Kiwis bounce back in the three-match series. The final game is on Tuesday.
Earlier, opener Colin Munro punished the listless Indian bowling with an unbeaten 109 and powered New Zealand to an imposing 196 for two.
Left-handed Munro used his bat like a sledge-hammer striking seven sixes and as many fours in his 58balls knock. The South Africa-born Munro raised a 105-run stand for the first wicket with Martin Guptill who scored 45 off 41 balls, striking three sixes and five fours in the process.
None of the Indian bowlers, barring Jasprit Bumrah in his first spell, could contain the rampaging Munro. The worst sufferer was debutant Mohammed Siraj, who was struck repeatedly for sixes by the southpaw and ended up giving away 53 runs for the lone wicket of rival skipper Kane Williamson. Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (1/36) and Axar Patel too failed to stem the run-flow. Guptill and Munro struck one four each off debutant Siraj in the Hyderabad pace bowler?s first over in international cricket to set the tone early in the innings.
At the other end leggie Yuzvendra Chahal, brought in to bowl the fifth over in place of Kumar, was treated harshly by Guptill who carted him for a couple of sixes over long on. The Black Caps reached 41 without loss after five overs.
Chahal, who had troubled the visitors in the preceding three-game ODI rubber as well as the first T20 game, conceded 17 runs in his first over.
When Siraj was brought back for his second over, he was treated with disdain by Munro as he slammed the bowler for a couple sixes over long on and mid-wicket. The bowler was taken for 16 runs in the eighth over of the innings.
Guptill later danced down the track to smack Chahal over mid-wicket and Munro was almost caught on the boundary line by Kumar in the same over at the end of which the visitors were 83 without loss.
Munro struck Axar Patel for two sixes in successive balls to reach his 50 in 26 balls, besides raising the 100 of the innings in the 11th over.