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Brief Scorecard:
India: 179-5 (20) | Rohit Sharma 65(40), Virat Kohli 38(27); Hamish Bennett 3-54
NZ: 179-6 (20) | Kane Williamson 95(48), Martin Guptill 31(21); Shardul Thakur 2-21
In an absolute humdinger of a game that went down to the Super Over, Rohit Sharma smashed two sixes off the last two balls to complete an unlikely victory for India. It was another failure in the Super Over for skipper Kane Williamson and his men as his brilliant knock of 95 went in vain. India have won the series 3-0 with two games left to be played.
Rohit Sharma goes berserk
New Zealand opted to bowl first in order to put India out of their comfort zone, knowing that India like to chase. But that move initially looked to be a mistake as India got off to a fantastic start in the powerplay. Rohit Sharma particularly took a special liking to Hamish Bennett, smashing two fours and three sixes off his bowling in the sixth over and India ended the powerplay strongly at 69-0. KL Rahul supported him well by scoring 26 off 17 balls and the duo put 89 runs for the first wicket.
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Bennett helps New Zealand fight back
The opening stand was broken when KL Rahul hit the ball straight to point off the bowling of Colin de Grandhomme. Shivam Dube was promoted to the number three position and the thought process might be to negate the effect of New Zealand's spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner. However, he struggled to score and the pressure was building on Sharma to produce the big shot. Bennett removed both Sharma and Dube in the same over to bring New Zealand back into the game and suddenly India were three down with no set batsman at the crease.
Virat Kohli leads India to a strong finish
Virat Kohli first consolidated India's batting in the middle along with Shreyas Iyer and then started to go after the New Zealand bowling. Kohli scored 38 off 27 balls which gave the right momentum for Manish Pandey (14* off 6 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (10* off 5 balls) to help India reach 179-5 in their 20 overs.
Kane Williamson puts New Zealand in the driver's seat
Martin Guptill batted with intent, scoring 31 runs off just 21 balls. But once he was dismissed by Thakur, things might have slowed down for New Zealand had there not been their skipper Kane Williamson who absolutely set the chase alight with his batting. While the likes of Mitchell Santner and Colin de Grandhomme struggled to get going, Williamson seemed to be batting on a different wicket, powering through and making New Zealand's grip on the game tighter with every passing over. Ross Taylor contributed with some late hits too, taking the game down to the last over with New Zealand requiring just 9 runs to win.
The thrilling last over
Mohammad Shami was bowling the last over and Ross Taylor was on strike. The first ball was a juicy full-toss that was smashed for a six over mid-wicket by Taylor, making the equation even the more easier for New Zealand. A single next ball meant that New Zealand needed just 2 runs from the last 4 balls, but the unthinkable was about to unfold. Williamson edged the next ball to keeper KL Rahul and departed for a fantastic knock of 95 off just 48 balls. Tim Seifert missed the next ball to make it two from two. The batsmen ran a bye of the second last ball to make it 1 run needed from 1 ball. Taylor unfortunately, dragged the last ball onto his stump and the Indian team and fans could not believe that the game was tied and we had a Super Over!
The Super Over
A bad day for Jasprit Bumrah was about to get even worse in the Super Over. After giving away two singles off the first two balls, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill managed to get 15 off the next four balls to set India a target of 18 in order to win the game and the series.
Southee started the over brilliantly as barring a four from Rahul, him and Sharma could only muster 8 off the first four balls. With the Indian vice-captain on strike, India needed 10 off 2 balls which was mathematically possible, but one good ball and the game was New Zealand's. However, Sharma showed why he is such a dangerous T20 batsman by sending the last two balls in the stands to send the Indian team and fans into delurium.
India won the game through the Super Over and Rohit Sharma was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match. Here were his thoughts after the breathtaking game -
"Never done that before (batting in Super Over). I didn't know what to expect, whether to go from the first ball or just take a single, try and put pressure on the last three or four balls of the over. I just wanted to stay still and was waiting for the bowler to make a mistake (on the last two sixes). The pitch was good and I was trying to stay still, see what I could do. Good performance with the bat, little disappointed at having thrown my wicket away though, should have carried on for a while. Wanted to bat normally, I hadn't got runs in the first two games, wanted to do well today. We knew we would win the series today if we win the match - in important games, the important players need to step up and get counted."
Also read: New Zealand vs India 2020 | Rohit Sharma equals Virat Kohli's T20I record
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