The series decided of the 3-match T20I series between India and New Zealand was scheduled to be played at Greenfield Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram. The series was locked at 1-1 and the winner of this took the pride back home.
After winning the toss the Kiwi captain Kane Williamson decided to bowl first in the shortened game of 8 overs each side. It was a rain-affected game as at one time there were chances of the game being washed away was looming around.
While batting first, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan once again failed to give a blistering start as they both feel on consecutive deliveries in the third over of the match bowled by Tim Southee, but skipper Virat Kohli was in no mood of giving it away in his quickfire 13 but he also feel in the very next over.
Now, Manish Pandey came to the rescue in his innings of 17 off 11 balls along with Hardik Pandya who scored 14 of just 10 deliveries with the help of a huge six over long-on. They both helped the men in blue to reach the total of 67 runs with the loss of 5 wickets at the end of 8 overs.
While defending the meagre total of 68 runs Indian pacers started on a good note ate both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah dismissed the Kiwi openers in the first two overs of the innings and the visitors were down to 8/2 after 2 overs.
The equation came down to the fact that the visitors needed 42 in last 4 overs, but then in the fifth over, they lost 2 wickets in successive deliveries and in the next over Yuzvendra Chahal gave away just 3 runs. Now, they needed 29 runs in last two with Bumrah took the wicket of the first ball of the 7th over but gave away 10 runs.
The Blackcaps need 19 runs in the final over to take the series home and it was bowled by Hardik and he didn’t disappoint Virat and help India to defend the total and win the game by 6 runs.
Brief Scores:
India: 67/5 in 8 overs (M Pandey 17; T Southee 2/13) defeated New Zealand: 61/6 (C de Grandhomme 17; J Bumrah 2/9) by 6 runs.
