T20: Thrilling win for India

India beat New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the three-match series here on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 165, Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40 balls) and skipper Rohit Sharma (48 off 36 balls) scored the bulk of the runs as India reached the target in 19.4 overs.

Earlier, New Zealand scored a competitive 164 for 6, riding on half-centuries from Martin Guptill (70 off 42 balls) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50 balls). For India, Ravichandran Ashwin (2/23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/24) were the pick of the bowlers.

Winning captain Rohit Sharma said, ‘Towards the end we saw it wasn’t easy, was a great learning for the guys because those guys haven’t batted in that situation before for India. It was great learning for them to understand what needs to be done, it’s not about power hitting all the time and you try and put the ball to the left or right of the fielder and try and take singles or find boundaries. As a team we are happy that those guys got to bat in that situation and finished the game off. Technically was a good game, missing a few players and to come and see what the new players have in terms of ability

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