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Scorecard:
India: 163-3 (20 overs)
Rohit Sharma 60(41), KL Rahul 45(33); Scott Kuggeleign 2/25
New Zealand:156-9 (20 overs)
Ross Taylor 53(47), Tim Seifert 50(30); Jasprit Bumrah 3/12
For detailed scorecard and match commentary, click here.
India completed a historic 5-0 series whitewash over New Zealand as a fantastic performance by the Indian bowlers coupled with some poor batting from New Zealand batsmen helped India win the final T20 by seven runs. Jasprit Bumrah showed exactly why he is India's number one T20 bowler and one of the best in the world as he recorded figures of 3-12 keeping things tight. Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur also picked up a couple of wickets each as New Zealand succumbed to the pressure for the third T20 is a row despite half centuries
Earlier, stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma wanted to test the Indian batting by setting a target and thus decided to bat first. India did not get off to a good start as Sanju Samson missed another opportunity and got out cheaply. However, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma then got together and stabilised the Indian innings, with the latter scoring a half-century. But an unfortunate calf injury to Rohit Sharma sucked all the momentum out of the Indian innings and they did not quite get to the target that they ideally would have liked to set New Zealand to chase, finishing at 163-3 in their 20 overs.
Also see – BBL Most Wickets
Rohit Sharma's injury
After the end of the powerplay, Rohit began to open up a bit more and started finding boundaries. India looked in complete control and on its way to set a total well in excess of 180. Just when he seemed to have found his feet, Rohit injured his calf muscle. He tried to carry on a smashed a six off the very next ball, but he felt that he couldn't continue and more movement would aggravate his injury. Thus he felt that walking off the field was the best thing to do, given that India still has to play a three-match ODI series and two Tests of which Rohit was an important part. Will Rohit be able to recover in time? Was his walking off the field just a precaution or the injury is worse than what it looked like? Only time will tell whether Rohit will feature for India as soon as possible.
Good start by India with the ball
New Zealand got off to a poor start as Jasprit Bumrah removed Martin Guptill in the second over, a decision that should have got New Zealand's way had they reviewed the LBW. Colin Munro then tried to attack Washington Sundar with a boundary and a six but was later cleaned up in the same over. The run out of Tom Bruce put New Zealand in deep trouble at 17-3. India were absolutely on top of New Zealand and runs were very hard to come by.
The 34-run Shivam Dube over
Tim Seifert took Dube to the cleaners as an incredible 34 runs were scored off his over, taking all the moment back to the Black Caps' side. Ross Taylor started contributing too at the other end. Seifert looked in complete command of the situation and brought up his 50 in just 29 balls. The equation became more and more easier for New Zealand as they suddenly needed close to a run a ball with two set batsmen at the crease.
Indian bowlers fight back again
Indian bowlers once again stepped up when it mattered the most as Navdeep Saini removed the dangerous Seifert and Bumrah picked up the wicket of the hard-hitting Daryl Mitchell. Shardul Thakur delivered the knockout punch when he picked up two wickets in the 17th over. Despite late hitting from Ish Sodhi, New Zealand fell seven runs short and India completed a historic 5-0 whitewash.
What lies ahead for New Zealand?
Tim Southee has proved yet again that he is extremely one-dimensional and falls short of ideas when attacked, having yet another bad day going for 53 runs off his four overs. Where does New Zealand go from here? Will they have the self belief to get up and put forward a strong team for the 2020 T20 World Cup? There are many questions to answer for them.
But for India, it has been a dream series and the emergence of Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey along with the usual brilliance of Rahul, Kohli and Rohit have been the biggest takeaways from the series.
Bumrah was adjudged the man of the match for his fantastic bowling performance. Here were his thoughts after the game.
" Feeling very good. The match got close at one point but we had belief that if we can squeeze in one or two good overs, the match can get close. It was windy, I was trying to use the wind and the longer side of the boundary. Very happy with the learnings, different ground dimensions, first time in New Zealand; great result."
KL Rahul was absolutely phenomenal in the series and thus was rightly adjudged as the man of the series. Extremely satisfied with the team's performance Rahul said,
Yea, I am pleased. It is great to be standing here winning 5-0. Very happy that my performances could result in victories for India. We were happy to come into this series with confidence and to keep executing our skills every game. We came up with answers from every situation and it is a great result for me and the side. I am batting really well now and I am happy to do the roles I am doing for my side. Not thinking too much about the T20 World Cup at the moment, but hopefully I can continue batting this way.
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