“India gifted hat-trick to Tim Southee” - Twitterati criticize Team India’s tactics as centurion Suryakumar Yadav is deprived of strike in 20th over 

The second T20I between India and New Zealand in Mount Maunganui on Sunday, November 20, saw in-form Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav notch up his second T20I hundred. In a terrific knock, he smashed an unbeaten 111 off only 51 balls, scoring at a sensational strike rate of 217.65.

Thanks to the right-handed batter's heroics, the visitors put up an impressive 191/6 on the board after being asked to bat first by New Zealand. However, while Suryakumar played a fabulous knock, he did not get to face a single delivery in the last over of India’s innings.

Seasoned Kiwi pacer Tim Southee bowled the last over and claimed his second T20I hat-trick, thus depriving the centurion of the strike in the crucial 20th over of India’s innings. He first had Indian captain Hardik Pandya (13) caught at long-off off the third ball (Hardik faced the first two deliveries). Deepak Hooda (0) and Washington Sundar (0) were then caught off consecutive deliveries, looking to go for big hits.

While praising Suryakumar for his stupendous knock, the Twitterati hit out at India’s batters for failing to give him the strike in the last over and, instead, gifting a hat-trick to Southee.

Here are some reactions from the micro-blogging site to the last over of India’s innings.

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India’s batters struggle before Suryakumar Yadav comes to the rescue again

Sent in to bat after losing the toss, Team India were 108/3 in the 13th over. Rishabh Pant was sent in to open the innings but scored just six off 13 balls. He eventually perished to Lockie Ferguson. Ishan Kishan contributed 36 off 31, while Shreyas Iyer was dismissed hit-wicket to Ferguson for 13 off nine.

Suryakumar single-handedly lifted Team India to an impressive total, clobbering 11 fours and as many as seven sixes in yet another display of exceptional hitting. For New Zealand, Southee finished with figures of 3/34, while Ferguson finished with 2/24.

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IND vs NZ 2nd T20I: Today's match playing XIs

India: Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant (w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Hardik Pandya (c), Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (w), Kane Williamson (c), Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Lockie Ferguson.