India defeated hosts New Zealand in a super over thriller in the third match of the T20 series on Wednesday. With this victory, Team India won the first ever T20 series on the Kiwi land after some horrifying history in the same country in the 20 overs format.
Earlier in the match, India lost the toss and were asked to bat first on a batsman friendly conditions in Hamilton. India got off to a flier courtesy Rohit Sharma(65 off 40) and KL Rahul(27 off 19), who added 89 runs for the first wicket in just 9 overs. Skipper Kane decided to give Colin De Grandhomme a run with the ball and he proved to be the right choice after he dismissed KL Rahul. Hamish Bennett was hit for 27 runs in an over by Rohit Sharma but he eked his way back by picking the wicket of Indian vice skipper, Virat Kohli(38 off 27) and Shivam Dube(3 off 7 balls). India managed to end their innings on 179/5 after final flourish by Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey.
New Zealand also got a decent start after Colin Munro(14 off 16 balls) and Martin Guptill(31 off 21 balls) added 47 runs in 5.4 overs but substitute fielder Sanju Samson pulled out a great diving catch to send Guptill packing as Shardul Thakur(2/21) striked for India. Colin Munro was struggling to time the ball which asserted pressure on him to go for a big hit, only getting stumped by KL Rahul on the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja(1/23).
Mitchell Santner was promoted up the order to accelerate the scoring rate but he could only score 9 runs before getting bowled by Jadeja. Skipper Kane Williamson(95 off 48) and experienced Ross Taylor(17 off 10) countered attack the Indian bowling line up and eked close to the target. With 9 needed off the last over, Virat Kohli gave the ball to Mohammed Shami to defend the target. He tried to bowl a yorker but ended up bowling a full toss and Taylor dispatched it for a monstrous six over deep mid wicket.
Shami gave away just 1 run on the second ball and dismissed Kane Williamson on the third ball to brim up some excitement in the match. Wicket keeper batsman Tim Seifert could only score 1 run in next two deliveries as the hosts needed 1 off the last ball. Shami bowled a good length delivery on the off but Taylor could only manage to drag it on the stumps which took the game to a super over.
An off colour Jasprit Bumrah conceded just 2 runs in the starting two balls of the super over, but Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson took off and scored 17 runs in the 6 balls to set up a target of 18 runs for India.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul came to chase down the target and they only scored 3 runs in the starting two deliveries bowled by Tim Southee. KL Rahul swept it behind square to hit a four on the third delivery of the over but only managed a single on the very next delivery.
With 10 needed of the last two deliveries, Rohit Sharma held his nerves and hit two sixes on two consecutive deliveries to take India to a famous wins as New Zealand’s horrific love story with super over continued in the new decade.
New Zealand fan chants pro Indian slogan
A very surprising and funny video has surfaced on the social media from 2nd T20 between India and New Zealand, in which an Indian fan is making a New Zealand fan chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. In the video, Indian fans are teaching the slogan of Bharat Mata Ki Jai to the Kiwi fans and then they are also raising their hand and shouting the slogan of Bharat Mata Ki Jai.
