In the second T20 International, played in Lucknow on Sunday, India’s spinners savored a rolling surface before the batsmen made quick work of a modest goal to secure a slender victory over New Zealand and tie the series. A self-destructive New Zealand was held to 99 for eight, their lowest total ever against India in the shortest format, thanks to the impressive performance of the trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, and Kuldeep Yadav on a helpful surface. The top order, which included Ishan Kishan (19 off 32), Shubman Gill (11 off 9), and Rahul Tripathi (13 off 18), struggled once more in the spin-friendly conditions even though it should have been a simple run chase.
In the end, with one ball remaining and six wickets in hand, Hardik Pandya (15 not out off 20) and Suryakumar Yadav (26 not out of 31) led the side across the finish line. On Wednesday, Ahmedabad will host the game that will decide the series. Opportunities have been offered to the younger players, who have not yet made them count since players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have not played T20s since the World Cup last year.
Since scoring a double century in Bangladesh, Kishan has lost steam, while Gill hasn’t been able to translate his brilliant ODI form into T20s. For the second game in a straight, the talented right-hander fell when attempting to pull a spinner, but was taken aback by the amnumberf turns. In Kohli’s absence, Tripathi, who gets to play at number three, was unable to attack the New Zealand spinners. The run out of Washington Sundar, who gave up his wicket to keep Surya in the middle, showed how much strain the Indians were under. India could afford to stumble in the hunt because the asking rate was never a concern. Prior Beforeaptain’s successful completion of the task alongside Surya, who hit the decisive four, a lot of pressure was removed by Hardik’s four after 45 balls in the 19th over.
After opening the bowling himself earlier, Hardik chose to use spinners from both ends in the powerplay. When they finally played in a T20 match together, wrist spinners Kuldeep (1/17) and Chahal (1/4), as well as finger spinner Washington (1/17) delivered another clean spell. After his opening spell’s first ball, Chahal was left licking his lips. It was a ripper that pitched on the leg stump before hitting Finn Allen’s bat’s outer edge. Two balls later, the opener was killed while attempting a reverse sweep; the ball crashed into his rear leg before collapsing onto the stumps.
A reverse sweep also caused the in-form Devon Conway to lose his wicket as the ball brushed his hands before reaching wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan. When the dangerous Glenn Phillips failed to reverse sweep the part-time off-spinner Deepak Hooda’s straight delivery in the seventh over, New Zealand was quickly reduced to 35 for three. Kuldeep delivered a stunning shot to Daryl Mitchell that slammed back in hard to break the stumps.
Although New Zealand bats deep, none of their hitters were able to put out any effort on the difficult pitch. Arshdeep Singh, a pacer who has a recent history of overusing no-balls, and Shivam Mavi were only employed in the final few overs. Arshdeep did brilliantly grab wickets in his two difficult overs while only allowing eight runs to be scored. Hardik finished with a one-for-twenty-five in four overs.