Mitchell, Santner double up as Caps shock India
FORGET the brutal ODI series whitewash. A change of format has come with white-ball joy for the Black Caps on Indian soil.
The New Zealanders beat India by 21 runs in Ranchi yesterday morning (NZT), when Daryl Mitchell and Devon Conway half-centuries spearheaded the Black Caps to an imposing 176-6 after being sent in.
Captain Mitchell Santner then put on a clinic against a dangerous batting lineup, nabbing 2-11 with his left-arm tweakers on a surface which offered bounce and turn.
In addition to taking the allimportant wicket of devastating opener Shubman Gill, the man who brutalised the Kiwis during the ODI series, Santner bowled a maiden during the power play, and proved virtually unplayable.
On a day the Kiwi spinners – Santner, Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi – combined to take 5-72 from 11 overs, India were always on the back foot after crashing to 15-3 just 19 deliveries into their chase.
The early flurry of wickets included Bracewell bowling lefthanded opener Ishan Kishan with the type of delivery offspinners dream of – it pitched on middle and leg, spun past the blade and hit off-stump.
Gill’s dismissal sucked the wind out of the healthy crowd.
However, you couldn’t write India off, not with the topranked T20 batter in the world –
Suryakumar Yadav – still in the middle.
He made things interesting, too, at least for a while, whacking 47 from 34 before chipping a Sodhi delivery down Finn Allen’s throat.
India won’t just rue their poor start to the chase.
The final over of the first
innings will haunt them, particularly the man who delivered it, left-armer Arshdeep Singh.
He dished up a no-ball firstup and was blasted for three consecutive sixes by Mitchell, who took a whopping 27 off it on his way to a rapid 59 from 30 balls.