A clinical India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International (T20I) at the Eden Park, Auckland on Friday. With this victory, India are now back on level terms in the three-match series. Krunal Pandya’s three-for and skipper Rohit Sharma’s blistering fifty spurred the men in blue to a convincing win.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first but Krunal’s early blows which included three important wickets restricted New Zealand to 158/8. Chasing under lights India got home with seven wickets in hand.
Krunal (3/28 in 4 overs) dismissed Colin Munro (12) and skipper Kane Williamson (20) to peg the Black Caps back. His spell applied the brakes after being brought inside the Powerplay overs.
In between, Krunal also got the controversial wicket of Daryl Mitchell (1), who fell pray to an umpiring howler, when ‘Hotspot’ showed a clear inside edge onto the pads.
However, Colin de Grandhomme then counter-attacked, scoring a blistering 50 off 28 balls to adding 77 runs with Ross Taylor (42 off 36 balls) for the fifth wicket.
Once De Grandhomme was sent back to the dug-out by Hardik Pandya (1/36 in 4 overs) and Taylor was run-out, New Zealand lost momentum.
It was a much-improved performance by the Indian bowlers with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/29 in 4 overs) and young Khaleel Ahmed (2/27)
India bowled 35 dot balls, wherein 18 were delivered between Khaleel and Bhuvneshwar.
