After a scintillating return from the bowlers, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul smashed half-centuries as India thrashed New Zealand by seven wickets three overs ago on Friday night. With this win, Team India has also taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. The third match of the series will take place on Sunday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, which has now become a mere formality. Remember that in the first T20 played in Jaipur, India had hit the ground by five wickets.
Rohit-Rahul rained fours and sixes
In response to the target of 154, Indian openers captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain KL Rahul first tried to understand the pitch. Once the eye was frozen on the frozen ball, then hit fours and sixes in every corner of the field. There was no Kiwi bowler left who was not beaten. Rahul scored 65 runs in 49 balls (6 fours and 2 sixes) while Rohit Sharma scored 55 runs in 36 balls (1 four and 5 sixes). Venkatesh Iyer and Rishabh Pant returned unbeaten on 12-12.
New Zealand had given a target of 154 runs
Electing to bat after losing the toss at the JSCA International Stadium Complex, New Zealand scored 153 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. Openers Martil Guptill and Daryl Mitchell shared 48 runs in 26 balls for the team. The Kiwis could not reach the big score due to the superb bowling of the Indian bowlers. Harshal Patel took two wickets for India. At the same time, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Axar Patel and R Ashwin took one wicket each.
Harshal’s strong debut
In the last season of IPL, Harshal Patel, who became the best bowler for Royal Challengers Bangalore with 32 wickets in 15 matches, also made a strong debut in his T20 International career. Harshal used his slow deliveries to make it difficult for New Zealand’s batters to score. He bowled 13 dot balls in his quota of four overs and at the cost of only 25 runs, besides the dangerous Daryl Mitchell (31 runs, 28 balls), Kiwi Innings top scorer Glenn Phillips (34 runs, 21 balls) also showed the way to the pavilion. .
Venkatesh was not given bowling again
In the Jaipur T20 match, when Venkatesh did not bowl, in the press conference after the match, Team India’s batsman Suryakumar Yadav had said that you will soon see him bowling. Venkatesh is sweating a lot while bowling in the nets. It was expected that Venkatesh would bowl in the Ranchi T20. However, despite being beaten by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar in the opening overs, he was not given the ball. This deepened the question whether Venkatesh was kept in the team only as a finisher.
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