INDIA WINS BY 7 WICKETS AND LEADS SERIES 2-0.
India 135/3 in 17.3 overs: SIX! That's the match for India. Shivam Dube smashes Tim Southee over the deep mid-wicket boundary to bring up the win for India. It has been a tricky chase for the visitor on a slow pitch, but KL Rahul's well-paced innings paved the path for India's seven-wicket victory here at the Eden Park.
Shivam Dube is the next batsman at the crease.
India 125/3 in 16.3 overs: OUT! Iyer doesn't really connect Sodhi's good-length ball pitched on the middle. Tim Southee waits and waits, and latches on to the ball at long-on. India 8 off 15 balls.
India 125/2 in 16.2 overs: SIX! Loose from Sodhi. It lands in the slot for Iyer, who clears his leg and sends the ball into the stands at long-on.
India 117/2 in 16 overs: SIX and FOUR! Brilliant hitting from Shreyas Iyer. He first clears his front leg to smash a yorker-length delivery from Tickner over the ropes. He plays a deft upper-cut to send a bouncer over the boundary behind the wicket. India needs 16 off 24 balls.
India 103/2 in 15 overs: FOUR! Full and in the slot for K.L. Rahul. The right-hander comfortably hits it over the bowler to bring up India's 100. There is some miscommunication after Iyer sends back Rahul who gets back to the crease immediately. India needs 30 off 30 balls.
India 98/2 in 14.4 overs: Fifty for Rahul! A good-length ball from Bennet and Rahul smashes it over the cover to bring up his fifty. His second fifty of the series.
India 94/2 in 14.3 overs: SIX! That's lucky. Rahul gets a top-edge off Bennett and flies away for a six behind the wicket.
India 86/2 in 13.4 overs: Comedy of errors! Iyer hits the ball towards the cover and sends back Rahul who was already halfway down the pitch. The opener gives up the chase but the direct hit attempt misses the stumps. Tickner picks up the ball and hits the stumps at the striker's end which runs away towards square-leg. This time Rahul says no to Iyer's call. It was a similar situation in the first T20 where Rahul survived due to Kiwis fielders' bad aim after he was sent back by Kohli.
India 82/2 in 13 overs: Satner has been excellent with his spell. He has conceded 19 runs in his four overs. Rahul and Iyer, though, look in total control of the chase.
India 76/2 in 12 overs: SIX! In the slot by Sodhi and Iyers smokes it over the long-on boundary. That's gone a long way.
India 65/2 in 11.1 overs: Rahul nudges Sodhi towards the fine-leg boundary as Santner slides in at the fence to save two runs for his team. Iyer runs back empty handed towards the non-striker's end as he loses his bat after being sent back by Rahul for the third.
India 63/2 in 11 overs: Another tight over from Santner. He flights his deliveries with Iyer's shuffling across crease and Rahul's strength on the front-foot unable to get the better of him.
India 60/2 in 10 overs: Ish Sodhi bowls three dot balls after a couple of short balls in the beginning of the over. India needs boundaries to keep chipping away runs.
India 57/2 in 8.5 overs: FOUR! KL Rahul is looking imperious. He runs hard for four singles and then delays his shot until the last second and then plays a delicate cut for a boundary behind the wicket.
India 49/1 in 8 overs: Its spin from both ends. Ish Sodhi gives away just six runs. There is a hint of turn on the pitch which the Kiwis will look to exploit. It has been a sedated chase by the Indians so far.
India 43/1 in 7 overs: Williamson introduces spin with Mitchell Santner and packs the offside. Iyer punches one on the back foot but is unable to get pas the fielders inside the circle.
India 40/2 in 6 overs: Excellent over from Southee. Just one run off it and the prized wicket of Kohli which should raise the host's confidence.
Shreyas Iyer is the new batsman.
India 39/2 in 5.1 overs: OUT! A cross-seaming delivery angling on the leg stump. Kohli tries to nudge it towards fine-leg but gets an inside which Seifert collects with a sharp dive towards his left. There is not much pace on the surface and dealing with the awkward bounce is going to be a challenge for the Indian batsmen.
India 39/1 after 5 overs: SIX! Rahul is oozing confidence as he uppercuts a bouncer from Tickner over the third-man boundary. Earlier in the over, Kohli hits a boundary at long-off with a simple flick of his wrists.
Blair Tickner is up next up.
India 24/1 after 4 overs: The slower ball has been used to good effect by the Kiwis pacers. Bennett keeps his knuckle balls on middle and off as Rahul and Kohli are not allowed to take quick singles.
India 22/1 after 3.2 overs: FOUR! Good shot from Rahul. A fuller-length delivery from Bennett and Rahul pulls it away from his ribs for a boundary over backward fine-leg.
India 16/1 after 3 overs: A tidy over from Southee. He maintains a stump-to-stump line as Kohli and Rahul take three singles.
India 13/1 after 2 overs: Hamish Benett to start things off from the opposite end! And wow! The first ball is a scorcher. Rahul is on the ground after evading the ball as it zips dangerously off the surface. Five runs come from the over.
India 8/1 after 1 over: Tim Southee starts things off and will be looking for early wickets, since a target as small as 133 wouldn't bother India much. Rohit Sharma starts things off, easing one off through the covers for a boundary. The fifth ball takes a thick outside edge and races off to the fence through the third man region.
And there's what Williamson and his men were searching for! Rohit's gone. The very next ball takes the edge again and it is easy work for the fielder at slip.
New Zealand 132/5 after 20 overs: It was as if the injury was never even there for Bumrah! Nothing has changed. The odd bouncer, the venom-spitting yorker and the occasional and deceptive bouncer... And he finally gets one, he does deserve it! Rohit Sharma takes a safe catch, sending Taylor back to the dugout.
Seifert finally connects: waits, waits and lifts it over the cover for a six!
Queen's ' We will rock you ' reverberates across the stadium... Well India can relate, I can assure you! Is the target enough to stop the Men in Blue? Well, only time will tell...
New Zealand 123/4 after 19 overs: Shami's back into the attack. Oh well, Samson's on again after Shreyas Iyer hurts himself now, tripping on the outfield while fielding. Shami, looking for a yorker, misfires to hand a full toss, but Seifert misses the line completely. He would be disappointed! However, the pacer bounces back with two back-to-back yorkers. Another 'swing and a miss' from Seifert!
New Zealand 118/4 after 18 overs: Bumrah launches two back-to-back off cutters to deceive Taylor. On both the occasions, Taylor swings his bat high but misses. OH NO! OHHHH NOOOO! What did I just see? The very next ball, one of the best fielders of the side, Kohli, has dropped Taylor in what was an absolute sitter!!! He cannot believe it. Jasprit Bumrah laughs it off. A collective gasp echoes across Eden Park.
Three runs off the 18th over. Bumrah is not called the 'death overs specialist' for nothing. He would have loved to have Taylor's wicket though. Unlucky!
New Zealand 115/4 after 17 overs: The second ball just falls short of Kohli at point. The skipper is all fired up! Jadeja bowls two wides and gives away three singles, this over. The spinner finishes with excellent figures of 4-0-18-2.
New Zealand 110/4 after 16 overs: New Zealand's 100 comes up, thanks to a boundary off the bat of Seifert. The ball was full and well outside off. Seifert reaches out to slice it towards the extra cover region. A poor effort on the field from Shami and Kohli isn't a happy man. However, there is more to it. The pacer has somehow hurt his toe and Sanju Samson has been called in as a substitute.
The very next ball from Chahal has been dispatched out of the park! It is straight and it is massive...
New Zealand 94/4 after 15 overs: Another tidy over from Jadeja as he looks to maintain the length just outside of the off stump region. Both Ross Taylor and Tim Seifert aren't taking any risks, hereon.
New Zealand 90/4 after 14 overs: If we consider how things started with Guptill going all out, it is a completely different scenario now. With six overs to go, NZ has just managed to put up 90 runs. Chahal goes for a run-a-ball.
New Zealand 84/4 after 13 overs: WICKET! Jadeja's bowling does the trick again. Cramps Williamson for space, who swings towards long leg; someone had to go after the bowler at some point. Chahal, who was stationed there, didn't have to do much to pouch a sitter.
New Zealand 79/3 after 12 overs: New Zealand's run rate has plummeted to 6.6 now as Shami completes yet another successful over. Just three of it.
New Zealand 76/3 after 11 overs: As simple as that! Colin de Grandhomme has to walk as all sorts of troubles begin unravelling for the Kiwis. Ravindra Jadeja, who would have cursed himself for not getting Williamson's wicket last over, gets to bowl his first over and does the job. A straighter one and Grandhomme was lured in to play the shot earlier... Caught and bowled!
New Zealand 73/2 after 10 overs: Williamson was almost gone! He knows it, Jadeja knows it, everyone knows it. One would look to get all that one can possibly manage from a Bumrah over, and Williamson was yards short of his crease when Jadeja launched his rocket-arm-throw at his end. Just misses... Williamson flashes a grin. He knows it is rare Jadeja misses his target.
New Zealand 69/2 after 9 overs: And a boundary off Dube, straight off the middle of Munro's bat. Struck hard; really, really hard.
And well... the very next ball, he is gone, as Kohli takes his second catch of the day. Diving forward, he wouldn't have missed it for anything. India's fielding display has been phenomenal today.
New Zealand 63/1 after 8 overs: Chahal's back with the ball. He employs the wrong 'un a couple of times, to trouble the batsmen. Munro misreads the last one and misses it completely. But it just whizzes past the off stump. Five from that over.
New Zealand 58/1 after 7 overs: Shivam Dube, right-arm medium, comes into the attack. The third ball, holy heavens, how did that go all the away? Munro utilises Dube's pace to put him away with an awkward looking scoop. Might call himself lucky that the ball cleared the ropes in that case. Four more singles in that over; 10 from it.
New Zealand 48/1 after 6 overs: Thakur is back and question is whether the batsmen will look to go after him, provided this is the last over of the first powerplay. Is Kohli looking out for possible mistakes that the Kiwis might be making?
And there's the boundary: a wristy flick from Guptill and the ball races away to the square leg fence. An another! Guptill didn't time that perfectly, but it lands safely- one bounce... four.
OUT! And there's the mistake I was talking about. Guptill slices again and the ball goes up straight and high to end up safely skipper Kohli's hands.
New Zealand 39/0 after 5 overs: Not the warmest of welcomes for Yuzvendra Chahal. Munro greets him with a sweep, wide of deep backward square, for a four. Two dots and three singles follow as Chahal bounces back well after having been taken on by the batsman in the very first ball of the over.
New Zealand 32/0 after 4 overs: Guptill bludgeons Shami to deep-midwicket for a four. A shortish delivery again and the batsman pulls away to glory. No one there.
But chuck all that! What stood out this over are the two absolute brilliant pieces of fielding in the deep, first by Manish Pandey who pulls off a one-handed wonder to deny a four and then the skipper himself who throws himself on the line to save another boundary.
New Zealand 23/0 after 3 overs: Jasprit Bumrah has been brought in! The pacer, who had been out with an injury for quiet some time, is back with with his venomous yorkers. The Kiwis deal in singles and twos. The last ball, an awkward bouncer, sees Munro taken aback. How long till he starts going after the Indian bowlers?
New Zealand 18/0 after 2 overs: Mohammed Shami to bowl from the other end to Colin Munro. The pacer is trying to restrict the channel on the leg stump, not allowing the left-hander to open the face of the bat.
And Munro has been gifted a lifeline! Shami employs the shorter delivery and Munro plays it a tad bit too early. An edge sees the ball lob up, with Rohit Sharma and Shardul Thakur converging under it. It falls just short.
The last ball, however, disappears to the fence! Five from the over.
New Zealand 13/0 after 1 over: Colin Munro and Martin Guptill to start off proceedings for the Kiwis. Shardul Thakur has been handed the new ball.
And Guptill starts the fireworks early as he slices Thakur over cover for a maximum off only the third ball of the match! That's not it... The fourth ball goes up, up and away too. A shorter delivery; it did take Guptill by surprise but he swings and swings hard. The fine leg can only watch it sail...
Virat Kohli: We wanted to field first. We did well with the ball too in the last game. It suits better when we bowl first. We were happy with the performance, I don't think there was any jet lag. We are going in with the same team. We want to do better in the field. We can stop extra 10 runs.
Kane Williamson: We are gonna have a bat. Obviously, it's an used surface and there won't be dew. It's important that we execute our plans and put up a strong performance. We are playing the same team.
PREVIEW
India is unlikely to change a winning combination but a few changes in the bowling department won’t come as a surprise when the visiting side takes on New Zealand in the second T20 at the high-scoring Eden Park here on Sunday.
Jasprit Bumrah was the only bowler on either side to concede less than eight runs per over at the peculiar shaped ground with short boundaries in the series opener on Friday.
Both Mohammad Shami (0/53 in 4 overs) and Shardul Thakur (1/44 in 3 overs) were taken to the cleaners with New Zealand batsmen using their pace to collect boundaries at will.
Since Shami is expected to retain his place in the playing eleven, Thakur might make way for Navdeep Saini. However, Saini, with his extra pace, too could go for big runs at the small ground.
It remains to be seen whether India sticks to three specialist pacers and two spinners combination or bring in an extra tweaker in Kuldeep Yadav to partner Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja. Washington Sundar is the other spin option India has.
If India does play an extra tweaker, all-rounder Shivam Dube will be the third fast bowling option.
Considering the conditions, Jadeja and Chahal had done a decent job on Friday, conceding 50 runs off 36 balls and taking a wicket each.
READ: 'We knew we could cover run-rate any time on a short ground'
Additionally, Chahal and Kuldeep are yet to play together, since the ODI World Cup ended. With the batting bearing a settled look, the team management might be keen to take a punt on their reunion.
On the batting front, Virat Kohli was a pleased skipper as the much scrutinised middle-order delivered for the team under pressure. Shreyas Iyer solidified at his position at number four with an unbeaten 58 off 29 balls.
It was a near perfect start of the tour for the away team which chased down 204 with relative ease to go 1-0 up in the five-match series.
Ahead of the Indian team’s departure, there was concern about constant shuffling, much like the ODI experimentation ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
Iyer’s form has put paid to all that chatter. The batsman has figured in all of India’s 12 T20Is since September last year, averaging 34.14 in 11 innings with two half-centuries and strike-rate 154.19. With his match-winning temperament at Eden Park, Iyer has stitched down a spot in the batting line-up for good.
As Manish Pandey and Dube alternate in finishing duties, aided by K L Rahul’s wicket-keeping skills, India’s T20 batting line-up finally seems set in the short term barring unforeseen changes.
New Zealand was left pondering about a shortage of 10-15 runs to its total as well as missed chances in the field that allowed the visiting batsmen to get away with a high scoring rate.
Partly, it also had to do with India’s surprisingly quick adaptation to the awkward conditions on offer at Eden Park.
READ: Iyer, Rahul fifties power India in 204-run chase against NZ
In turn, the Black Caps themselves now have to come to terms with India’s adaptation if they are to prevent an early 2-0 lead within three days. India had also won here in February 2019, albeit it was a three-match T20I series; it had eventually lost 1-2.
Irrespective of the result, the tide seemed to turn for the host in terms of its batting form. Senior batsmen Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor defied recent criticism to score attacking half-centuries. It complimented their top-order’s runs, albeit the side only finished with a par score.
India won key battles during its innings in that new batsmen at the crease were able to maintain the momentum previously generated. It is something New Zealand cannot simply fix with a change in personnel. As such it will be hoping the likes of Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Seifert to come good.
There is a school of thought in the host's camp that Williamson should open the batting in T20 cricket, thus taking advantage of the powerplay overs. Given the lightning start provided by openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, this seems infeasible for the next game, atleast.
New Zealand will be expected to field the same eleven, avoiding any temptation to take a look at all-rounders Scott Kuggeleijn and Daryl Mitchell.
Both teams enjoyed a day off on Saturday in lieu of the tight schedule and sterner battles ahead.
Eden Park was only an estimated 60 per cent full on Friday despite New Zealand Cricket anticipating more gate collections owing to the Indian team’s popularity.
It remains to be seen if the scheduled late-starts (7.50-8 pm local time) continues to have an impact on match attendances during this T20I series.
Where to watch?
The New Zealand vs India 2nd T20I match will be aired live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD in English commentary and Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 3 HD in Hindi commentary. The online streaming of the match will be available on Hotstar .
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