After an uncomfortable win against New Zealand in the second T20I, India will take on New Zealand for the penultimate match of the series on Wednesday at the Narendra Modi stadium in Gujarat, in what might prove to be a bender of a decider.
After losing the first game by 21 runs, the men in blue returned to winning ways and defeated the Kiwis by six wickets, owing to an impressive performance by the bowlers. However, India was deep in murky waters when the openers were dismissed with hardly any runs on the board.
Notably, skipper Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav guided the men in blue to victory and kept the hopes of winning the T20I series after an emphatic run in the 50-overs format.
What have they done so far?
After an impeccable performance in the first match, Kiwi openers Finn Allen and Devon Conway started off the 2nd T20 in a similar fashion. Sadly, their stay on the crease was rather short-lived as Yuzvendra Chahal came with a plan.
Chahal was picked ahead of Umran Malik and took the crucial wicket of Allen while conceding just four runs in his two overs. New Zealand just collapsed like a house of cards following Allen’s dismissal. Indian spinners spun a web, breaking out of which proved too costly for the Kiwi batsmen. Every Indian bowler picked a wicket each, except Shivam Mavi.
Arshdeep Singh, too, found himself with wickets and managed to sway away from his bittersweet love affair with no-balls. Singh proved to be deadly in the dying embers of the game and got rid of Lockie Ferguson and Ish Sodhi.
Ever since he returned to the T20 side, Kuldeep Yadav has been a consistent performer for the men in blue. Yadav bowled Daryl Mitchell with an absolute peach of a delivery and played an instrumental role in running out Mark Chapman.
The Kiwi batsmen were rather unimpressive. Only five batsmen managed to reach double figures, with skipper Mitchell Santner scoring 19 runs, which was the highest by any Kiwi batsman.
Chahal picked the crucial wicket of Finn Allen and conceded just four runs
India should’ve looked far more comfortable chasing down a total of 99. However, that wasn’t really the case. Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan were looking in good touch before the former was dismissed by Michael Bracewell.
In the ongoing T20I series, Rahul Tripathi’s stay on the crease has been pretty brief and even his cameos haven’t really helped the team as much. From the looks of it, Prithvi Shaw might be added to the squad for the penultimate match of the series.
Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar got run out in bizarre fashion after a pandemonium turn of events scoring 19 and 10 runs respectively.
Suryakumar Yadav kept wickets and played a kind of game he’s not really associated with. However, his score of 26 runs and a partnership with skipper Hardik Pandya was enough to see the men in blue take the series to a decider.
Head to Head record
Both New Zealand and India have met each other 24 times and India has won 13 times whereas the Kiwis became victorious on 10 occasions and one game ended in a tie. While India was absolutely terrific in the T20I series on its tour of New Zealand and also managed to get the better of the Kiwis in the 50-over format, the T20I series didn’t begin in a similar fashion.
However, with a victory in the second T20I, India has returned to winning ways and will be hoping to deliver yet another defeat to the Kiwis.
Key players
Suryakumar Yadav (India): SKY scored 47 runs in the first match of the series, but that ended up in a losing cause. Although he didn’t showcase his range of shots in the second match, his partnership with Hardik Pandya was crucial for the side.
The World Number 1 T20 batsman is one of the most lethal batsmen to have played the shortest format of the game. SKY scored 1,164 runs in 2022 and started off 2023 in a similar fashion and already has a century to his name.
Unsurprisingly, this makes him a bankable player for the men in blue. It’s safe to say that the Indian team does wonders when SKY is in brilliant form. On a good day, his ability to hit sixes is enough to guide the team to a comfortable win.
Devon Conway (New Zealand): Conway had been the most dangerous batsman for the Black Caps ever since he announced his arrival on the scene. He continued his splendid run from the ODI series and managed to score 52 runs, which included seven fours and one maximum.
However, Conway wasn’t able to replicate the same in the second match. He got out trying to reverse sweep a full-length ball by Washington Sundar and managed just 11 runs.
Towards the end of the ODI series, Conway proved to be an instrumental part of the Kiwi line-up and scored 138 runs in the penultimate ODI. Undoubtedly, the Black Caps will be counting on him to provide the kind of start he did in the first T20I.
Predicted XIs
India: Prithvi Shaw. Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya ©, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik
New Zealand: Devon Conway, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner ©, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner
Prediction
The Indian team has been absolutely brutal in the shortest format of the game, because of which they’re currently the number 1 T20 side. Despite a loss in the first game, India looked colorful and creative in the second match.
Undoubtedly, the momentum provided by the bowlers worked on the batsmen too, which is why we predict the Indian team to emerge victorious in the third match and seal the series.