India defeats Kiwis in T20 match

India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series here on Friday.

Opting to bowl, India produced a decent bowling effort to restrict New Zealand to a modest 153 for six. Harshal Patel shone bright with figures of 2 for 25, while veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (1/19), Axar Patel (1/26), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/39) and Deepak Chahar (1/42) picked up a wicket each.
Glenn Phillips (34 off 21), Martin Guptill (31 off 15) and Daryl Mitchell (31 off 28) were notable contributors for New Zealand.

India chased down the target with consummate ease with K L Rahul (65 off 49) and skipper Rohit Sharma (55 off 36) stitching 117 runs for the opening wicket. India, thus, took a 2-0 lead in the series, having won the first match by five wickets in Jaipur.

Rohit Sharma, Winning captain, said, ‘Great effort from the entire unit. Wasn’t the easiest of conditions but the way we applied ourselves was amazing. We know their quality of batting, they played some good shots to start with. But I kept telling the boys that it is all about one wicket.

But we showed great application and temperament to restrict them. The quality of the bench has been amazing. They have been performing consistently whenever they get the chance. It is important for me to give them the freedom. The external matters will take care of themselves. It is a young team and the guys haven’t played a lot of games. It is important that the guys get time in the middle. It is early to think about changes in the next game.

Whatever suits team India, we’ll do that. We need to make sure we look after the guys who are playing now. They haven’t played a lot either. For the guys who haven’t played, their time will come, there are a lot of T20s. Harshal has done it time and again, he is a very skillful bowler. Even in these conditions, he used the slower ball really well.’

0

0