On a pitch where the ball gripped and turned sharply, New Zealand outplayed India to triumph by a massive margin of 47 runs at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur. Chasing a tricky target, the Indian batsmen showed no application whatsoever and subsided alarmingly to their second lowest T20I total.
Earlier, Kane Williamson called correctly and predictably chose to make first use of a sluggish pitch by putting runs on the board. However, the playing eleven defied all predictions as the new-ball duo of Tim Southee and Trent Boult were benched. The presence of as many as three specialist spinners raised an eyebrow while MS Dhoni went in with the same combination that played in the Asia Cup final.
Martin Guptill dispatched the very first ball for a massive six to set things rolling. But, the wily Ashwin bounced back with a loopy off-break to out-fox the hard-hitting opener. Even though replays showed that it was missing the stumps, Guptill seemed to be trapped in front on real-time.
Aside from an interesting reverse shot which cleared the ropes, Colin Munro could not do much as Ashish Nehra’s change of pace caught him unawares. Considering the depth in their batting lineup, New Zealand’s strategy to attack continuously was reminiscent of Brendon McCullum’s influence.
As the power play ended, Dhoni brought in Suresh Raina to suffocate the batsmen. The ploy worked wonders with the part-time spinner scalping the key wicket of Williamson who played an uncharacteristic shot.
The experienced Ross Taylor joined Corey Anderson in the middle to try and defuse the situation. Despite Dhoni’s attempts to cut down the singles, Anderson kept the scorecard ticking with some enterprising batting.
Raina ran out Taylor with a sharp back-handed throw as the Indians kept chipping away. Even though the pitch suited his style of bowling, the 29-year old’s parsimonious spell proved to be handy.
After a few lusty hits from Luke Ronchi, the Kiwis managed to reach a competitive total. Taking into account the explosiveness of India’s top-order, Williamson would have wanted early wickets to keep themselves in the hunt.
Spinners derail India’s chase
And, his bowlers duly obliged by using the slowness of the pitch to their advantage. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Raina departed in quick succession to leave India reeling at 12/3.
Inevitably, all eyes veered towards the talismanic Virat Kohli, who had come into the contest on the back of spectacular form. Meanwhile, Yuvraj could not survive the treacherousness of the surface which meant that Dhoni arrived into the tense cauldron much earlier than he would have imagined.
Ish Sodhi was introduced into the attack and he immediately made an impact. Kohli played away from his body only to edge an extravagant leg-break to Ronchi who made a mark with his stellar keeping.
Santner who had inflicted serious damage returned to torment the hosts further by sending back Hardik Pandya even as Jadeja was removed by Sodhi to send the raucous crowd into despair.
Dhoni tried to forge a partnership with Ashwin even as the required run rate kept on burgeoning with every delivery. When the equation came down to an improbable 61 from the last 4 overs, both batsmen had no choice but to take risks.
Despite Dhoni’s best attempts to make the match interesting, the writing was on the wall and India surrendered meekly to begin their campaign on a sour note.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 126/7 (Anderson 34, Ronchi 21*, Bumrah 1-15); India 79 (Dhoni 30, Santner 4-11, Sodhi 3-18)
Result: New Zealand won by 47 runs
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