India vs New Zealand: Rohit Sharma guides India to series win via Super Over

In a last-ball thriller, India defeated New Zealand in the third T20I via Super Over and also sealed the series 3-0.

Updated : Jan 29, 2020 16:35 IST , HAMILTON

Colin Munro suffered an injury during the third T20I in Hamilton.
Colin Munro suffered an injury during the third T20I in Hamilton.
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Colin Munro suffered an injury during the third T20I in Hamilton.

Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and New Zealand realised it the hard way! Despite Kane Williamson leading from the front, with a knock of 95, New Zealand lost to India via Super Over and conceded the series 3-0.

For India, it was Rohit Sharma, who kept his cool till the end and ensured that there was no slip-up as he helped his team chase down the target of 18 in just six balls. Such an entertaining innings, such a thrilling finish!

That's it from us for the day. Hope to see you for the final T20I on Friday.

 

Here's looking back at how India chased down the target in the Super Over?

Rohit Sharma opens for India. 18 runs off six balls -- can India make it?

First ball, Rohit manages two runs. A chance of run out is missed! Second ball: Just one run from it.  A boundary in the third ball by KL Rahul. This is getting intense!  Fourth ball: And Rahul takes a single.  A six by Rohit Sharma -- four more to win. Can India win this one? Four to win, three to tie.

Last ball: THAT'S A FREAKING SIX! India wins the match, and pockets the series. What a finish!

 

New Zealand has scored 17-0. India needs 18 to win the third T20I.

This is how the over went for the home team: Kane Williamson takes guard for New Zealand. Jasprit Bumrah starts the proceedings for India. One run in the first ball. Second ball: And that's a single by Martin Guptill.  A six off the third ball by Kane Williamson! Fourth ball: A boundary... New Zealand on a roll, here.  Dot ball on the fifth, but a bye. New Zealand wouldn't mind.  And that's a boundary in the last ball.

 

AFTER 20 OVERS: New Zealand 179/6

This is a fantastic innings by Kane Williamson. The captain hammered 95 before being caught behind by KL Rahul off Mohammad Shami. But in the end, that mattered little as India bounced back in style. It's a tie. Over to Super Over!

New Zealand 171/4, 19 overs: Nine to go from six!

New Zealand 160/4, 18 overs: 12 balls, 20 runs to win. Win Kane Williamson batting on 90, can New Zealand win this game?

New Zealand 151/4, 17 overs: It's turning out to be an exciting outing for New Zealand. Captain Kane Williamson has played a gritty knock to keep the host in the fray. 29 runs to win in 18 balls.

Now, another boundary! 20 balls, 31 runs needed.

21 balls, 35 runs required! Kane Williamson going strong here. Can the captain help New Zealand bag a win here?

BIG WICKET! Shardul Thakur has dismissed Colin de Grandhomme. New Zealand loses its fourth wicket for 137.

New Zealand has bounced back and how! Kane Williamson hammers a half-century. New Zealand needs 52 runs from 30 balls. Can it bounce back.

New Zealand 88/3, 11 overs: Well, that's a wicket! Mitchell Santner has been dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal for nine runs. Third wicket falls for New Zealand.

New Zealand 79/2, 10 overs: The highlight of the over will be Ravindra Jadeja dropping a catch of Mitchell Santner for 9 runs. What could have been a successful over by Jasprit Bumrah turned into an over of missed opportunities. New Zealand picked up seven from it.

New Zealand 72/2, 9 overs: 10 runs from the over. Mitchell Santner is batting on 8. Kane Williamson on 12. Still a long way to go.

New Zealand 67/2, 8 overs: India has bounced back after conceding quick runs. The onus is on Kane Williamson to get going.

New Zealand Ravindra Jadeja strikes.  Colin Munro stumped by KL Rahul off Jadeja for 14.

New Zealand 51/1, 6 overs: Steady over by Shardul Thakur. He got a big wicket! Martin Guptill is caught by substitute Sanju Samson for 31. New Zealand 47-1. Captain Kane Williamson is the new man in.

New Zealand 23/0, 5 overs: India has introduced Yuzvendra Chahal. But Martin Guptill and Colin Munro have picked up 10 runs from the over. It's going to be a long chase, but the host side is on the track.

New Zealand 33/0, 4 overs: Seven runs from Mohammad Shami's over. Colin Munro and Marin Guptill have kept things simple so far. Still a long way to.

New Zealand 26/0, 3 overs: An expensive over as far as India is concerned. Collin Munro and Martin Guptill are making sure that they give the team a steady start.

New Zealand 13/0, 2 overs: An economical over from Mohammad Shami. Just five runs from it. Martin Guptill and Collin Munro keeps this simple. It's a big chase and the openers are making it sure that they hold fort.

New Zealand 8/0, 1 over Martin Guptill gives the Kiwis a good start. He steps out of the crease on the second ball of Shardul Thakur's over and smashes it over the bowler's head for maximum. Shardul give away only a couple of singles to salvage the over.

Rohit-Sharma
Rohit Sharma got his helf century off just 23 balls, the second fastes T20I fifty of his career.
 

India 179/5, 20 overs A good ending for India, courtesy Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja. Pandey gets a maximum over the bowler's head and Jadeja sends it over the rope square of wicket after he was dropped by Santner in the previous ball. Big over to end the innings. 18 came off it and 180 seems like a very good target, especially with how the pitch is behaving and India's bowling strength.

India 161/5, 19 overs No pace on the deliveries from Bennett and it finally does the trick for him in the penultimate ball. Virat Kohli is out. The kuckle ball again and Southee takes a good low catch at extra-cover.

India 151/4, 18 overs Tidy from Tim Southee. No boundaries but India adds nine runs to the scoreboard.

India 142/4, 17 overs Shreyas Iyer gets going with a beautiful six over the bowler's head but Santner gets his revenge in the final ball of the over. He deceives the batsman with a turning delivery and Iyer doesn't make any connection. Seifert dislodges the bails before Iyer could get his foot over the line. That's the end of Iyer .

India 131/3, 16 overs Good reply from Ish Sodhi, giving away just four runs.

India 127/3, 15 overs And now Virat Kohli gets his first six of the game! The power in the shot sees the ball clear the long-on with ease. And he ends Santner's over by sending the ball past the rope between long-on and deep midwicket. Effortless from the Indian captain.

India 112/3, 14 overs India gets a boundary after nearly four overs! Virat Kohli sweeps Sodhi on the first ball ear the short fine leg.

India 106/3, 13 overs de Grandhomme follows Sodhi with antoher good over. Just seven runs and no boundaries. India has scored 24 runs from the last five overs. That's a good comeback after Rohit Sharma's initial fireworks.

 

India 99/3, 12 overs With Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer new to the crease, Ish Sodhi manages to eekout a miserly over. Just three runs added.

India 96/3, 11 overs What a comeback from Hamish Bennett! Two wickets off the over after getting hit over the park by Rohit for 26 runs in his previous over. Dube walks back after hitting it into the hands of Sodhi at third man.

India 96/2, 10.4 overs The knuckle ball works for Hamish Bennett and he gets his revenge by dismissing Rohit Sharma . The Indian vice-captain swung his bat again, is deceived by the lace of pace on it and only gets the height on it, not the distance. Southee at long-on takes an easy catch.

India 92/1, 10 overs Scott Kuggeleijn with another good over, gives away just three runs. That's just 10 off his 2 overs now.

Rohit-Sharma
Rohit Sharma's helf century gave India a good start against New Zealand.
 

India 89/1, 9 overs Kane Williamson throw Colin de Grandhomme at India and he gets the breakthrough in the final ball of his first over in this series! Rahul walks back after getting no control on the shot and sends the ball to Munro at backward point for a simple catch.

Shivam Dube is the new batsman at the crease.

India 82/0, 8 overs An over without a four or a six! Santner is back and he plugs the flow of runs with some tight bowling.

India 77/0, 7 overs A relatively calmer over from Ish Sodhi. Just one bounday off that over, sent over the bowler's head by Rahul in the last ball of the over.

India 69/0, 6 overs Rohit welcomes Hamish Bennett back into the attack with three sixes and two fours. He sends a knuckle ball over the square leg for a maximum and then follows iit up by sending the ball over long-off. His timing is perfect and picks up consecutive boundaries off the next two balls that are too short and too wide. And gets another six by sending it over the bowler's head to end the over. Half century for Rohit Sharma!

India 42/0, 5 overs Rohit welcomes Mitchell Santner with a cut through the gap between backward and cover point for a boundary. And after that, him and Rahul and happy to deal in singles and rotate the strike.

India 34/0, 4 overs Kane Williamson brings in Scott Kuggeleijn into the attack. Rohit is surprised with the bounce on the second delivery and he edges it past the non-existent first slip to the boudnary. Every other ball has been fuller and tight, giving Rohit and Rahul no room to play their shots.

India 26/0, 3 overs Southee returns and Rahul picks up a cheeky boundary off the third ball, opening the face of his bat and using the pace on the ball to send it over the keeper's head and past the ropes.

India 17/0, 2 overs Hamish Bennett joined Southee in the attack. The pitch is showing a hint of bounce and after sticking to a fuller length initially, Rahul and Rohit pick his delivery and send them across the park. Munro and Kuggeleijn make the save just before the ball raced away to the bounday to deny Rohit two fours.

India 12/0, 1.3 overs And now the first six of the match comes off Rahul's bat. He got under Hamish Bennett's short ball and sends a powerful upper cuts over the third man.

India 4/0, 1 over Good start for New Zealand and Southee. That boudnary aside, it was a pretty controlled over from the 31-year-old.

India 4/0, 0.3 over The first four of the match comes off Rohit's bat. A bautifully executed late cut shot from the Indian vice-captain. That raced past the point fielder.

India 0/0, 0.1 over Tim Southee with the first ball for New Zealand. He loses his run-up, retraces his steps and deliver a short of length ball that Rohit defends to midwicket.

The pitch here in Hamilton looks like it will swing a bit more and it will hold. K. L. Rahula nd Rohit Sharma out in the middle, stretching ahead of the game. We haven't seen The Hitman deliver in New Zealand so far. Will today be the day he gets his first big score of the series?

Toss update

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has won the toss and elected to bowl first. New Zealand has brought in pacer Scott Kuggeleijn, replacing fellow fast bowler Blair Tickner. India, which is leading the series 2-0, is unchanged.

 

Match preview

A ruthless India is expected to seal its maiden T20 International series win in New Zealand and only a special comeback from the struggling host in the third game here on Wednesday can delay what seems inevitable.

India won the twin T20 Internationals in Auckland by margins of six and seven wickets respectively to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.

A third successive win at Seddon Park will give it its first ever T20I series win on New Zealand soil, a feat it was unable to achieve on two occasions previously. India lost 0-2 under M. S. Dhoni back in 2008-09, and last year, it went down 1-2.

Overall, this Indian side has seen an uptick in fortunes and is unbeaten in five T20 series since the 2019 ODI World Cup, including the ongoing one against the Black Caps. The only contest it didn’t win was against South Africa, when the three-match series ended 1-1 after one of the games was washed out.

However, its current winning form in T20 cricket won’t lead to any meaningful change in the ICC rankings. India is currently placed fifth in the T20I rankings, and needs to win the remaining three matches — this series 5-0 — to move up to fourth.

New Zealand is currently placed sixth. Pakistan, Australia, England and South Africa, in that order, sit ahead in the rankings’ table.

The greater concern at present is building towards the T20 World Cup to be hosted in Australia later this year. In that regard though, the team management is quietly confident that various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are starting to fall into place, and at the right time.

This is specifically boosted by the performances of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer over the recent months, particularly on tour thus far.

As such, there are no changes to be expected in the Indian line-up for the third T20. On Tuesday, there was an optional practice session with skipper Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, the ones missing in action.

The support staff worked closely with those players who haven’t yet received a chance to play in the series yet. Ravi Shastri paid close attention to Washington Sundar, while batting coach Vikram Rathour was busy with Rishabh Pant. Both are expected to sit out again on Wednesday.

There is possibility of one change to the Indian line-up. Kuldeep Yadav sat out the first two matches in Auckland, and that could have been a move motivated more by the ground size than anything else.

Chahal provides greater control and his wrist spin moves away from the majority of right-handers in the Black Caps’ line-up, thus against the arc of swing.

Yadav is a tad more adventurous in his flight and the angle of his spin into the right-handers could have been easy fodder at Eden Park’s short boundaries.

Whether Yadav comes back into contention at the regular-sized Seddon Park remains to be seen. Additionally, there is little chance of Chahal-Yadav playing together, a move India has shied away from since the ODI World Cup.

From New Zealand’s perspective, this is the last opportunity for Colin de Grandhomme to make an impression. The all-rounder will be replaced in the squad for the last two T20Is by batsman Tom Bruce.

Grandhomme has played strictly as a batsman so far in this series, and has scores of 0 and 3 in the first two games.

New Zealand is not too worried about its bowling performances in this series, despite India’s relative ease in chasing down totals in the first two matches. Its greater worry is contending with the Indian bowling, in particular Jasprit Bumrah, who has regained much of his pre-injury rhythm.

In both matches, it was unable to get him away, whether at the start or during the death overs. For its part, India mixed things up well in the second T20, holding Bumrah back until later in the power play.

New Zealand has had a poor run at Eden Park off late, but its record at Seddon Park holds in good stead. It has won seven out of nine T20Is played here, and will be hoping to stop India from taking an unassailable lead in the series.

Where to watch?

The New Zealand vs India 3rd 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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