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New Delhi: Flamboyant Abhishek Sharma once again proved to be the magician for Team India as the hosts secured a big victory over New Zealand in the first T20I match of the five-game series. By virtue of the victory in the series opener in Nagpur on Wednesday, India lead the series 1-0 with four more matches to go.
Abhishek smashed a blistering knock of 84 runs in the first innings while Rinku Singh scored unbeaten 44 runs to help India post the highest-ever total of 238/7 against the Kiwis in the shortest format. Chasing a mammoth total of 239, the Kiwis could only muster 190/7 in the stipulated 20 overs to go down in the encounter by 48 runs.
Glenn Phillips played a blistering knock of 78 runs off just 40 balls including 4 fours and 6 sixes for the Kiwis but failed to take the visitors past the finish line. Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell also tried their best with scores of 39 and 28 runs but could not take the Kiwi innings further.
Skipper Mitchell Santner played an unbeaten knock of 20 runs towards the end but it went in vain as none of other batters could really pitch in with the efforts. For India, Varun Chakaravarthy and Shivam Dube shined with the ball for the hosts claiming two wickets each while Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel claimed a wicket each to contribute.
Earlier in the innings, Abhishek slammed a blistering knock of 84 runs off just 35 balls which included 5 boundaries and 8 sixes to push the Kiwi bowlers against the wall. Apart from his lethal innings, Rinku Singh returned as the finisher for the side with an unbeaten score of 44 runs in just 20 balls to help India cross the 200-run mark.
Suryakumar Yadav returned to form with a knock of 32 runs while all-rounder Hardik Pandya scored 25 runs to contribute towards the overall score. Opener Sanju Samson and comeback man Ishan Kishan failed to make an impact scoring 10 and 8 runs respectively. Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy claimed two wickets each for the Kiwis.
