New Zealand has finally beaten India for the first time on their India tour. Both the teams played the first T20I in Ranchi and Black Caps won the match by 21 runs. Batting first after losing the toss, New Zealand scored 176 runs losing six wickets in 20 overs. Devon Conway scored 52 and Daryl Mitchell scored an unbeaten 59. In response, the Indian team could only manage 155 runs on the loss of nine wickets.
For India, Suryakumar Yadav scored 47 runs and Washington Sundar scored 50 runs. With this victory, New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. The second match of the series will be played on Sunday at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. However, India might have lost the first T20I but Sundar’s all-round performance has won the internet.
The Indian all-rounder did not only take 2 important wickets in the first power play but also scored his first T20I half century against New Zealand. Sundar also took an unbelievable catch at mid-off.
Second defeat under Hardik’s captaincy
This is the second defeat of the Indian team under Hardik’s captaincy. Earlier the team had lost to Sri Lanka. At the same time, the Indian team has lost to New Zealand in the T20 format after 15 months. Before this match, India got the last defeat from the Kiwis on 31 October 2021. Then New Zealand had defeated India in the T20 World Cup 2021 in Dubai.
Indian batters failed
Apart from Suryakumar and Sundar, the Indian batting flopped in the match. Seven batsmen could not even touch double figures. At the same time, the performance of the Indian bowlers was also disappointing. Arshdeep gave away 51 runs in four overs. Umran also gave 16 runs in one over, Mavi got 19 runs in two overs and Hardik, the skipper gave 33 runs in three overs.
Chasing the target of 177 runs, the Indian team got off to a very poor start. By the score of 15 runs, India had lost three wickets. Ishaan Kishan was dismissed for four runs and Shubman Gill for seven runs and Rahul Tripathi could not even open the account.
After this, Suryakumar Yadav and captain Hardik Pandya shared a 68-run partnership in 51 balls for the fourth wicket. But Ish Sodhi broke the partnership. Surya missed out on his half-century and was dismissed for 47 runs in 34 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes.
After this Hardik also returned to the pavilion. He could score 21 runs in 20 balls. Deepak Hooda (10) and Shivam Mavi (2) also could not do anything special. Kuldeep Yadav could not even open the account. Meanwhile, Washington Sundar held one end and kept playing shots.
He scored the first half-century of T20 international career in 25 balls. Sundar got out after scoring 50 runs in 28 balls. Arshdeep and Umran remained unbeaten. For New Zealand, Captain Santner, Bracewell and Ferguson took two wickets each. At the same time, Jacob Duffy and Sodhi got one wicket each.