India Vs New Zealand First T20

It was comfortable for New Zealand in the end. McCullum batted through, playing a sensible hand, without going for the big shot too early in his innings. He was helped by a solid show from the rest of the batsmen, as partnerships of 54, 50 and 60 show.

These were the words of the commentator after the Kiwis defeated the Indians in the first T20 match of the National Bank Series played on Feb 25 at Chritchurch. New Zealand deserved this win. Let us reason out why.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to field. Virender Sehwag(26 of 10) gave India a flying start by hitting three consecutive sixes of Tim Southee. Gambhir(6 of 7) also hit a four but unfortunately both the openers got out and India were 2 for 32 in 3.1 overs. Then India recieved a vital blow when Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and M.S Dhoni got out on 7, 1 and 2 respectively. India were 62 for 5 after 8 overs. Yusuf Pathan(20 of 8) came in and hit three consecutive sixes off N.L McCullum and the Indian supporters were cheering. But unfortunately his innings came to an end when he tried to hit another six but Jacob Oram caught his ball just inches inside the boundary line, stumbled, threw the ball in the air before stepping outside the boundary to regain his balance, hopped back in and caught the ball. Irfan Pathan was out on 12 and Suresh Raina was the only batsman left. Raina played a great knock(61* of 43) hitting 5 sixes and a four. Harbhajan Singh(21 0f 22) hit two fours in the last over and got out on the last ball of the Indian innings. India made 162 for 8. The Kiwis bowled well as all the six bowlers used grabbed at least one wicket each and two bowlers had an economy rate of under 5.00.

The Kiwis were off to a shake start as the lost their first wicket in the second over and were 9 for 1 after 3 overs. But then Martin Guptill scored a quick 41 of 28 balls hitting 4 fours and 3 sixes. Brendon McCullum also remained not out on 56 made of 49 balls including 2 fours and 3 sixes. Ross Taylor and Jacob Oram chipped in with 31 of 20 and 29 of 15 respectively and the Kiwis won the match by making 166 for 3 in just 18.5 overs. The Indian bowlers bowled poorely as only three of the six bowlers used grabbed wickets and only one bowler had an economy rate of under 5.00. The Kiwis also built three strong partnerships for the second(60 of 33), third(50 of 40) and fourth(60 of 33) wickets. 

So before concluding this article I wish India luck for the second T20 and ask all the readers to answer the poll.