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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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 finished the match with consecutive sixes. India won by seven wickets and 16 balls to spare. They have an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series.
See how Twitter reacted to this game;
Welldone boys great win 🇮🇳👏👏👏👏 @BCCI 2-0 #INDVsNZT20
— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3) November 19, 2021
The same set of Kiwi bowlers looked so different in the T20 World Cup game #IndvsNZ
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) November 19, 2021
Rahul – Rohit last five partnerships in T20Is:
140 vs Afg
70 vs Sco
86 vs Nam
50 vs NZ
60*vs NZ today
First Indian pair to record five consecutive 50+ partnerships in T20Is.#INDvNZ pic.twitter.com/yPveU6Pnj9— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) November 19, 2021
Congratulations Harshal you deserve this mate.. Hope to see you taking lots of wickets for india like @imAagarkar 👍👏 https://t.co/0k8BaXbTOT
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 19, 2021
Brilliant comeback by India after the flying start to the Kiwi innings. At one point in the game, 175 looked easy for NZ, now 155 looks difficult.
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 19, 2021
In spite of the ‘dew factor’, don’t think India would be wanting to chase more than 160
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 19, 2021
Harshal Patel all set to make his India debut today.
He was the Purple Cap winner in IPL 2021. I hope he makes this opportunity count.#INDvNZ
— Prasenjit Dey (@CricPrasen) November 19, 2021
