IND beat NZ Highlights:
India vs New Zealand: India win Ranchi T20 by 7 wickets Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul hammered half-centuries while Harshal Patel bagged two wickets on his debut as India cruised to a 7-wicket win over New Zealand. The win at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi meant India sealed the series 2-0 on Rohit Sharma & Rahul Dravid’s maiden voyage as full-time captain and coach.
With the win on Friday, India have now registered their fifth consecutive T20I series win over New Zealand in the shortest format of the game at home.
Here are the talking points from India’s emphatic win over New Zealand in the 2nd T20I.
Earlier, the new captain Rohit Sharma won his second consecutive toss. With the dew factor set to play a big role, Rohit Sharma opted to bowl first in Ranchi against New Zealand in the 2nd T20.
Opting to bowl first, India survived early onslaught from Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell. Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshal Patel put up some brilliant bowling performances as India restricted New Zealand to 153/6 in 20 overs at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi.
Uncertainty over Shreyas Iyer’s batting position
After the 2019 ODI World Cup, India brought Shreyas Iyer in the limited-overs setup and he performed exceedingly well at the number 4 spot on numerous occasions, however, the shoulder injury put him out of the cricket field for several months this year.
It also cost him the place in the 2021 T20 World Cup squad. With Suryakumar Yadav’s inclusion in India’s limited-overs set-up, Iyer’s batting position has come under a lot of scanners.
The talented Mumbai batter ideally bats at number 3 or 4 in the Indian Premier League for Delhi Capitals, however, in the first two T20Is against New Zealand didn’t get the opportunity to bat there. In the Jaipur T20I, Iyer batted at the number 5 spot below Surya and rookie Ventakesh. While, on Friday, he didn’t even get the chance to bat in India’s 7-wicket win over New Zealand.
India vs New Zealand: No involvement of 6th bowler
Team India missed the services of the sixth bowler in the past few months with Hardik Pandya’s unavailability as a bowler. The Men in Blue lacked balance in the XI for the mega classes in New Zealand and Pakistan in T20 World Cup clashes.
In the ongoing T20I series, selectors picked Venkatesh Iyer to groom as the fast bowling all-rounder, however, new T20I skipper Rohit Sharma has not used him in the first two matches.
However, the five striker bowlers have performed decently well in Jaipur and Ranchi but India still need to test Venkatesh’s ability as the sixth bowler for future.