Skipper Suryakumar Yadav had been asserting that he was not out of runs even though he was out of form. On Friday night, he proved his detractors wrong as he slammed an unbeaten half-century to propel his team to a smashing seven-wicket victory in the second T20I against New Zealand at Raipur.
Ishan Kishan too was not behind his skipper as he smashed 76 off 32 balls to help India complete a chase of 209 in just 15.2 overs. India were 6 for 2 after 1.1 overs and still registered their joint-highest successful chase in T20Is. At Raipur, Suryakumar looked close to his best. With Kishan going berserk, he did not have much strike initially. But it also allowed him to take his time – he was on a run-a-ball 10 before he swept Santner over short fine leg for four in the eighth over.
The runs came in a torrent thereafter. In the next over, he smashed four fours and a six off Foulkes. Even after Kishan fell, he did not let the scoring rate drop. He brought up his fifty – his first in 24 T20I innings – in 23 balls and hit boundaries not just behind the wicket and on the leg side but also through the offside. He had luck on his side as well. Mark Chapman parried a difficult chance over the boundary line when he was on 43, Santner dropped a dolly on 64, and a leading edge on 70 just evaded backward point. But you would imagine he was due some. In the company of Shivam Dube, who scored 36 not out of 18, he took India into a 2-0 series lead.
Earlier, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma managed just six runs between them. It should have been zero had Conway not put down Samson at deep square leg off Matt Henry and parried the ball over the boundary line. Samson, though, couldn’t capitalise on the reprieve and was caught at mid-on in the same over. Abhishek was out for a first-ball duck when he flicked Jacob Duffy to deep square leg. Conway made no mistake this time.
New Zealand were firm favourites at that point. But Kishan had other ideas. He hit Zak Foulkes for three fours and a six in the third over, which also featured three wides and a no-ball. There was no looking back. Kishan raced to his fifty off just 21 balls, improving Abhishek’s record from the first T20I of the fastest T20I fifty by an India batter against New Zealand by one ball. By the end of the powerplay, India were setting pretty at 75 for 2.
After being sent in in dewy conditions, New Zealand, too, had made a blazing start. Even though only one of their top five crossed 25, each of them struck in excess of 140. India made a brief comeback in the middle overs but Mitchell Santner’s 47 not out of 27 balls lifted them to 208 for 6. At the post-match presentation, Santner said they probably needed 300. He was only half-joking.
Devon Conway went after Arshdeep Singh. With the ball swinging away from him, Conway targeted the offside and hit the Indian for three fours and a six in an 18-run first over. Arshdeep’s second over also went for 18, Tim Seifert causing the damage this time with four successive fours.
Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy put the brakes on briefly. Rana had Conway caught at mid-off with a slower ball in a wicket-maiden. It was the fourth time on this tour that he had dismissed Conway, each time while bowling from around the wicket.
Varun Chakravarthy had Seifert skying one and Kishan took the steepler back-pedalling from short midwicket. But Rachin Ravindra took Rana apart in the last over of the powerplay. He smashed two slower balls out of the ground while collecting a four in between to take New Zealand to 64 for 2 after six overs.
Ravindra was equally attacking against Varun, hitting the spinner for two sixes in the eighth over. Glenn Phillips took on Kuldeep Yadav in the next over, and picked up one six and two fours off the first four balls but miscued a wrong ‘un to be caught at backward point. Still, New Zealand had the upper hand and got to 111 for 3 at the ten-over mark.
India bounced back after the drinks break with wickets of Daryl Mitchell and Ravindra in successive overs. Shivam Dube removed Mitchell with a slower ball and Kuldeep had Ravindra edging a wide delivery to short third. As a result, New Zealand managed only 41 in the six overs starting from the 12th.
Santner revived his side in the death overs, hitting four fours and a six in that period. Foulkes also played a handy cameo of 15 not out of eight as New Zealand collected 47 in the last three overs. They breached 200 but the slowdown in the middle robbed them of a competitive total.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand: Devon Conway c Pandya b Rana 19, Tim Seifert c Kishan b Varun 24, Rachin Ravindra c Singh b Yadav 44, Glenn Phillips c Pandya b Yadav 19, Daryl Mitchell c Pandya b Dube 18, Mark Chapman c Sharma b Pandya 10, Mitchell Santner (not out) 47, Zak Foulkes (not out) 15; Extras: (B4, LB2, W6) 12. Total: (for 6 wickets in 20 overs) 208.
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-43, 3-98, 4-125, 5-129, 6-161.
Bowling: Arshdeep Singh 4-0-53-0, Hardik Pandya 3-0-25-1, Harshit Rana 3-1-35-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-35-1, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-35-2, Abhishek Sharma 1-0-12-0, Shivam Dube 1-0-7-1.
India: Sanju Samson c Ravindr b Henry 6, Abhishek Sharma c Conway b Duffy 0, Ishan Kishan c Henry b Sodhi 76, Suryakumar Yadav (not out) 82, Shivam Dube (not out) 36; Extras: (NB1, W8) 9. Total: (For 3 wickets in 15.2 overs) 209.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-6, 3-128.
Bowling: Matt Henry 3-0-41-1, Jacob Duffy 4-0-38-1, Zak Foulkes 3-0-67-0, Mitchell Santner 2-0-27-0, Ish Sodhi 3-0-34-1, Daryl Mitchell 0.2-0-2-0.
