IndiacaughtMunrobowled Boult,NewZealand drawlevel
Virat Kohli becomes secondhighest run getter in T20s but hosts lose by 40 runs in Rajkot
It was a day when everything went right for New Zealand as they recorded a 40-run win over India in the second T20 on Saturday, levelling the series.
Skipper Kane Williamson won the toss, and opted to bat on a fresh wicket. The batsmen vindicated his decision by posting a huge total and the bowlers landed telling blows to check the famed Indian batting line-up.
Left-handed opener Colin Munro was the batting hero with an unbeaten 109. His 105-run partnership for the first wicket with Martin Guptill (45) set the tone. Munro’s second T20 ton came off 54 balls (58 b, 7x4, 7x6).
New Zealand’s confidence was boosted when strike bowler Trent Boult dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma in quick succession in the opening exchanges to hurt India’s chase.
Boult had not done much on this tour but on Saturday he was all fired up. He bowled Dhawan and had Rohit caught behind to leave India reeling at 11/2.
From that point, India were always chasing the game. The rest had no option but to keep going for big hits to see India over the line, and they failed.
Shreyas Iyer (23) dazzled in his brief knock, but played a loose shot to perish. With the run-rate mounting, Virat Kohli (65) hit a brisk half-century, his 18th in T20, but such was the control of the Kiwi bowlers he too couldn’t carry on till the end.
Kohli became the second highest run-scorer in T20, overtaking Tillakaratne Dilshan. Only Brendon McCullum is ahead.
While Boult did the damage at the top, spinners Ish Sodhi (1/25) and Mitchell Santner (1/31) made sure the India batsmen didn’t take them to the cleaners. They bowled slow to extract turn, making sure Kohli, Dhoni (49) and Pandya (1) weren’t given many loose balls. They were much better than Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal.
It was a second good game on the trot for Sodhi, who didn’t play in the ODI series . He bowled a tight spell in New Delhi as well. At Rajkot, Dhoni and Kohli could not get him away. The final T20 will be played in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.