Auckland: The immensely talented Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer enhanced his reputation of a finisher with a scintillating 29-ball-58 took India home in the first T20I against New Zealand at Auckland.
India chased down a target of 204 with one over to spare, Shreyas Iyer with an unbeaten 58 off 29 and Rahul smashing 56 off 27 at the top. New Zealand had earlier posted a competitive total with three half centuries from Colin Munro's 59 off 42, Ross Taylor's 54* off 27 and Kane Williamson's 51 off 26.
Rahul fell for 56 after sharing a 99-run partnership for the second wicket with Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper missed his half-century by just five runs as Martin Guptill pulled off a stunner at deep mid-wicket.
But it was Shreyas Iyer who led the run chase with Manish Pandey. Iyer launched an onslaught in the death overs and helped India chase down their third-highest T20I total with six balls to spare. He remained unbeaten for 58 runs from 29 deliveries.
Meanwhile, This was the third-highest target chased down by India in T20Is.
Highest targets chased down by India (T20I)
208 v WI Hyderabad 2019207 v SL Mohali 2009
204 v NZ Auckland 2020 *
Earlier, Kohli won the toss and chose to field first. New Zealand openers Colin Munro and Martin Guptill got the off to a flier registering their highest powerplay score against India.
Shreyas Iyer was given the Man of the Match award! Says that it was really amazing to come overseas and win the game and stay not out. Adds that they lost two wickets in succession and concentrated on partnerships. Mentions that they knew the ground is really small and they can make up later on. He enjoyed the crowd support today and is hoping for the same in the remaining games as well.
With just a day between the first and the second T20I New Zealand will feel the pressure of the mighty Indian performance at Auckland, The second T20I is to be played on the same ground on Sunday.
New Zealand will feel the pressure, the last time they took the field they had been thrashed 3-0 in the Tests in Australia, and the last time they played a T20I, it ended in, well, a Super Over loss to England. New Zealand were leading that five-match T20I series 2-1 and even though they handed England an innings loss in the Test series later, crossing the Tasman Sea after that dented their confidence considerably. Now, New Zealand face a stiff opposition in India to end their home summer with 1-0 down in the 5-match T20I series.
Also read: Virat Kohli creates a series of problems
0 Comments:
Post a Comment