India and New Zealand are up against each other in the second T20I in Ranchi’s Jharkhand State Cricket Academy International Stadium. India won the first T20I in Jaipur by five wickets and are leading the three-match T20I series by 1-0.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first. India made a forced change as Mohammed Siraj injured his finger and was replaced by Harshal Patel, who is making his international debut. On the other hand, New Zealand made three changes as they left out Lockie Ferguson, Rachin Ravindra and Todd Astle for Adam Milne, James Neesham and Ish Sodhi.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant attempts a dhoniesque run-out in Ranchi, watch here
New Zealand managed to post 153/6 in 20 overs while none of their batter was able to score fifty.
In response, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma took India off to a good start as they scored 45 runs in the powerplay without losing any wicket. The duo kept going and scored 117 runs for the opening wicket. KL Rahul got out after scoring 65 runs in 49 balls, where he hit six fours and three sixes.
Rohit Sharma also notched up his fifty, where he hit five sixes. Tim Southee dismissed Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav in one over to give New Zealand a glimpse but it was too late. Rishabh Pant did the finisher’s job by hitting two sixes on the first two balls of the 18th over. In was a fitting by Pant to finish it off in style in MS Dhoni’s hometown.
Watch the video here;
IND vs NZ 2021, 2ND T20I : Rishabh Pant Six https://t.co/simxoNGHCf
— Cricket Videos (@CricketVideos15) November 19, 2021
IND vs NZ 2021, 2ND T20I : Rishabh Pant Six https://t.co/bf6ynPDgK3
— Cricket Videos (@CricketVideos15) November 19, 2021
Earlier, Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell walked out to open the innings. Guptill smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for successive fours on the first two balls of the match. He was looking in ominous touch and was hitting boundaries for fun before Deepak Chahar outfoxed him with a bouncer. He scored 31 runs in 15 balls.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant smashes back-to-back one-handed sixes off Hassan Ali, watch here
Mark Chapman got out to Axar Patel after scoring 21 runs and out walked Glenn Phillips. He was batting well in the middle and had hit three sixes before getting out to Harshal Patel. Phillips was the highest scorer with 34 runs as the rest of the New Zealand batters failed to get going. New Zealand managed to post 153/6 in 20 overs.