After going down in the first encounter by 80 runs on Wednesday, India bounced back as the Men In Blue secured a comprehensive seven wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20I in Auckland on Friday. Chasing 159, MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant reached the target with seven balls to spare. Pant hit the winning runs, as he smashed Scott Kuggeleijn straight down the ground for a boundary in the second-last delivery of his final over.
It was skipper Rohit Sharma, who set the platform for the chase, sat the beginning. The Indian opener scored 50 off 29 deliveries, before he was dismissed by Ish Sodhi. With this knock, the right-handed batsman also became the cricketer with the most number of runs in T20Is. The Indian, who has featured in 92 T20Is so far, now has amassed 2288 runs under his name. On the course, Sharma also brought up his century of sixes.
With India levelling the series, the cricket fraternity hailed Rohit Sharma for becoming the highest run-scorer in the format:
Here are the tweets:
Same teams, same set of players, completely different result. Underlines the great importance of taking wickets early. #NZvIND
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 8 February 2019
Hitman brings up his16th T20I FIFTY
He is now the leading run scorer in T20Is ??????#NZvIND pic.twitter.com/RymkYwUwx0
???? of the ??
Hitman is bossing the shortest format ??????#CricketMeriJaan #NZvIND @ImRo45 pic.twitter.com/uy7i6X583S
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) 8 February 2019
— BCCI (@BCCI) 8 February 2019
.@ImRo45, in T20Is, rewrote a few records today ??????
Highest run-getter ?
First Indian to hit 100 sixes ?
Most fifty-plus scores ?#CricketMeriJaan #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/5wHkWLS0BR
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) 8 February 2019
That’s all from Auckland! #TeamIndia beat New Zealand by 7 wickets to level the series and set up a thrilling decider at Hamilton.
???? – 158/8 (20.0 Ovs)
???? – 162/3 (18.5 Ovs)#NZvIND— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) 8 February 2019
A good comeback by the men in blue , Well done @BCCI !! Congratulations @ImRo45 on becoming the leading run scorer in T20 Internationals. The young @krunalpandya24 & @RishabPant777 were too good today, Keep up the good show ! #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/3gai4vTkXX
— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) 8 February 2019
India bowled superbly today and it made the job for the batsman easier. Clinical win this and must be a good decider on the 10th #NZvInd
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) 8 February 2019
This batting unit surely has it in them to level the series and then we can have another exciting decider!#NZvIND
— R P Singh ????? ?????? ???? (@rpsingh) 8 February 2019
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With the contest squared at 1-1, India will now play their final and third match of the series on Sunday in Hamilton.
