Rohit Sharma led Team India have started their three-match T20I journey with a nail-biting win over New Zealand. They won the toss and opted to bowl first. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided with the first breakthrough by removing Daryl Mitchell on a golden duck, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill and Chapman added a 109-run stand for the second wicket.
Although they both scored the fifties, Indian bowlers found their form towards the end of the innings and successfully restricted them within 164 runs in 20 overs. While chasing, both India openers – KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma got off to a flying start as they added 50 runs within the powerplay.
.@surya_14kumar played a brilliant 6⃣2⃣-run knock in the run-chase and won the Man of the Match award. 🙌#TeamIndia #INDvNZ @Paytm
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/5lDM57TI6f pic.twitter.com/d9cx6oAqzS
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 17, 2021
But they got hiccups in between as New Zealand bowlers did well and picked some wickets too and took the chase to the final over. However, Suryakumar Yadav did well with a quickfire 62 off 40 and helped the team as well.
Suryakumar Yadav, who won the Player of the Match, said: “I have not been doing anything different, just being myself whatever I have doing since the last 3-4 years. I bat the same way in the nets and replicate the same in the middle. I try and put a lot of pressure on myself in the nets, for example if I get out I just try to come out of the nets and try and think what better I could have done and it really helps when I play in the middle. The ball was coming on nicely with the dew coming in and later on it became really slow but in the end happy to be on the winning side. I would have loved to finish the game but that’s how you learn and move forward. About Trent, It’s my wife’s birthday also and it’s a perfect gift from him”
Rohit Sharma said: “Towards the end, we saw it wasn’t easy, was a great learning for the guys because those guys haven’t batted in that situation before for India. It was great learning for them to understand what needs to be done, it’s not about power hitting all the time and you try and put the ball to the left or right of the fielder and try and take singles or find boundaries.
“As a team we are happy that those guys got to bat in that situation and finished the game off. Technically was a good game, missing a few players and to come and see what the new players have in terms of ability and I think the way we pulled it back in the last 3-4 overs was magnificent. In the end it was a great effort from all our bowlers,” he continued.
Ravichandran Ashwin since his comeback.
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Man has put in effort and has improved so much in both white and red ball over the last couple of years and is clearly showing it on the pitch. Proper comeback this is. pic.twitter.com/z91pYyPDCf— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) November 17, 2021
The newly-appointed Indian captain also lauded his bowlers especially Ravichandran Ashwin, who has been in stellar form since his return to white-ball cricket.
“They (Ashwin and Axar) bowl in tandem for the Delhi Capitals and they are always looking to take wickets which is a good sign and it’s important to try and put the brakes and those guys do that. Surya batted birlliantly and that’s how he plays, he played some percentage shots as well and plays spin really well and uses the pace well for the fast bowlers,” Rohit Sharma said.
“When I captain him I always tell him to bluff, and that’s exactly what he did” – Rohit Sharma on getting out to Trent Boult
Rohit Sharma also revealed how Trent Boult bluffed him with a short delivery, saying that they know each other’s weakness having played together in the Mumbai Indians.
“We (Boult and I) played a lot of cricket together and he knows my weakness and I know his strength, it’s a good fight between the two. When I captain him I always tell him to bluff, and that’s exactly what he did. He put the mid-wicket back and put the fine leg up and I knew he was gonna bowl a bouncer and I was just trying to put it over the fielder but unfortunately there wasn’t much pace on the ball,” he added.
Tim Southee, New Zealand captain said: “You always want to come out on the right side of the result. We played our best cricket and took it deep. Mark Chapman hasn’t played a lot of cricket of late, and to play the way he played was very pleasing to the side. It was a game of fine margins.”
He added:
“It was a good score, we wanted to start well with the ball but we did well to claw back in the middle, and obviously Mitch Santner was outstanding with the ball and to take it deep and take it to the last over I guess that was a positive as well. It’s always tough with different grounds and stuff like that but we set high expectations ourselves, a little bit off in the field and it’s an area we pride ourselves on and that we have been very good at in the last few months. It’s always tough, Daryl has got a lot of training and always wants to bowl but probably didn’t leave him enough runs in the end. Guptill played nicely, Santner showed his class as well.”
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