India had to toil hard in the middle to chase down a target of 100 runs and win the second T20I against New Zealand on Sunday in Lucknow. It was a different ground today but still, it had loads of turn and the spinners made great use of that. New Zealand used as many as five spinners during the innings and they made life difficult for Indian batters.
Shubman Gill, on a second consecutive occasion, got out while trying to pull a spinner. Ishan Kishan (19 off 32) looked cautious during the innings but he wasn’t the same while running between the wickets during the 9th over. Ish Sodhi had his first wicket in the form of Rahul Tripathi (13 off 18), while Suryakumar Yadav sold Washington Sundar (10 off 9) down the river to leave India in trouble at 70 for 4.
Hardik Pandya then joined hands with Suryakumar Yadav and the duo guided the team home on the penultimate delivery of the match. New Zealand should be credited to take the game till the very last over despite scoring just 99 runs in the first innings. Wickets kept falling in intervals but New Zealand were 20-30 odd runs short, to be honest.
Earlier, New Zealand managed to score 99 runs in the first innings. Yuzvendra Chahal came into the side in place of Umran Malik and the former immediately had an impact. He rattled the stumps of Finn Allen (11 off 10), who was looking destructive. Washington Sundar had Conway edged to the keeper, while Deepak Hooda removed the stumps of Philips to leave New Zealand reeling at 35 for 3.
Mitchell tried to give some support to Chapman but Kuldeep Yadav ended his stay in the 10th over. Chapman also got run out a little later as wickets continued to fall. Mitchell Santner added some runs in the end by playing an unbeaten cameo of 19 off 23 balls. As for the Indian bowling attack, all the bowlers except Shivam Mavi picked one wicket each. Arshdeep Singh was the pick of them, claiming 2 for 7 in 2 overs.
Fans aren’t too impressed with India’s performance despite the win. Here’s a look at some of the reactions:
An epic Test match
— DK (@CricCrazyDK) January 29, 2023
100 run chase karne me gan fatt gayi inki aur sapne world cup ke
??— ? (@sportyzzz527) January 29, 2023
That wasnt t20 pitch.But still shows how team india struggle against spin.
— Nick (@ni33321) January 29, 2023
Meanwhile Spectators pic.twitter.com/y086sKRQT7
— Shital Shelke (@PurwiShelke) January 29, 2023
NZ are the real winner in my book.
— Simmu? (@meownces) January 29, 2023
Latak-latak ke pass ho gaye.
— Vicky kashyap (@Vickyinvincible) January 29, 2023
6-7 boundaries each in 40 overs not a single six
— Johnmuffa (@ictblood) January 29, 2023
Really impressed with santner. What a captain.
— kuldeep singh (@ksnaruka99) January 29, 2023
India is new Pakistan cricket team
— VARUN (@varxxxxxx) January 29, 2023
Warra comeback by NZ??
— KRISH ?? (@KR4VK18) January 29, 2023
Pathetic pitch
— Juilius Sneezer (@itsmewhocares11) January 29, 2023
