India's cricket captain Rohit Sharma rests between overs during the first T20I between India and New Zealand, in Jaipur. (AP Photo)India vs New Zealand T20I Highlights: India beat New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the three-match series on Wednesday. Chasing a target of 165, Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40 balls) and skipper Rohit Sharma (48 off 36 balls) scored the bulk of the runs as India reached the target in 19.4 overs. Earlier, New Zealand scored a competitive 164 for 6, riding on half-centuries from Martin Guptill (70 off 42 balls) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50 balls).
Highlights:
For India, Ravichandran Ashwin (2/23) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/24) were the pick of the bowlers.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand: 164/6 in 20 overs (Martin Guptill 70, Mark Chapman 63; Ravichandran Ashwin 2/23, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/24).
India: 166/5 in 19.4 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 62, Rohit Sharma 48; Trent Boult 2/31).
India XI: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj.
New Zealand XI: Tim Southee (c), Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult.
India
166/5 (19.4)New Zealand
164/6 (20.0)India beat New Zealand by 5 wickets
India will aim to press the reset button under new captain Rohit Sharma and an illustrious head coach in Rahul Dravid.(Twitter)
In the penultimate over with India flapping their legs vigorously but not quite moving ahead the camera focused on Rahul Dravid. The new coach was having a tough first day at the office. He had that Dravid expression on his face - pensive and thoughtful. Sunil Gavaskar, from the distant commentator's box, would spot the sprouting of a new gray hair on the new coach's scalp. Others would laugh. Soon Shreyas Iyer would get out, failing to clear the long off boundary. Dravid put his head down to scribble on his book. It was one lengthy note. Another Iyer, Venkatesh, would join. He would hit a boundary. Slow claps from the coach this time. He would get out playing the reverse sweep. No, Dravid didn't throw his cap on the turf. Actually, he wasn't wearing one when in the dugout. Pant would ensure that the coach would start with the win. There were no pumped fists, Dravid would welcome his first win as India coach with a blank face.
Rohit Sharma at home in T20Is as a captain:
Matches : 10
Won : 9
Lost : 1
Pant finds the boundary, and India win by 5 wickets! It's all over! A nervy ending to the game but its all smiles now in the Indian camp. The first match of Rohit Sharma as India's full time captain and the first match of Rahul Dravid as India's head coach & India register an emphatic victory against New Zealand as they beat NZ by 5 Wickets
Venkatesh Iyer hits a four but falls on the next ball. The reverse slap is hit straight into the hands of Ravindra and Mitchell has a wicket. India need 5 runs in 4 balls
Daryl Mitchell begins with a wide. And then a four, Venkatesh Iyer creams a pull shot to the boundary! 5 to win off 5.
Shreyas Iyer has been dismissed off the last ball of the 19th over. Venkatesh Iyer walks out to bat. India need 10 to win off the last over.
Brilliant over from Lockie Ferguson, gives away just five runs. 16 off 12 is nothing in a T20 match if you have 7 wickets in your hands. IND: 149/3 after 18 overs
rent Boult had a mixed T20 World Cup final. He dismissed Australian skipper Aaron Finch early, didn't give away too many runs but by the time he bowled David Warner it was a little too late. He looked forlorn at the end of the game in Dubai. One over in Jaipur extinguished any hopes the New Zealand fast bowler had of starting off well against India in this series. With swing not on offer, Boult went for the shorter stuff. But the strategy didn't work. After a tidy first over, Rahul dispatched his short ball to the midwicket fence. Boult went for another bouncer, it missed everyone and went to the boundary. Boult was irked when the umpire credited the boundary to the batsmen. His frustration boiled over, when Rohit Sharma displayed sheer class by bisecting two fielders after leaning back to play late. Boult covered his face with one hand, before looking up and shouting in the direction of backward point. Things got worse when Rohit pulled the next delivery for a six. For someone who always seems to have his emotions in check, the display of frustration was uncharacteristic. Later on he got Sharma with a slow bouncer but the damage was done - to his reputation as a cool customer and New Zealand's hopes in this game
Suryakumar Yadav is gone for 62 in Jaipur. Too cheeky there as he went for a scoop to a delivery that was full and straight. IND 144/3 after 17 ovs
A leg glance for six and that's 50 for Surya. This has been a superb knock from the Team India no.3, with the half-century coming off just 34 balls! IND: 121/2 after 14.1 ovs
Rohit Sharma falls for 48 after Boult returns. Caught by Rachin Ravindra on the circle at short fine for 48 in the 14th over. The slower-bouncer does the trick. Rohit Sharma departs after playing a solid knock for his team. Just 2 runs short of what would have been a fine half-century. IND: 115/2 after 14 ovs | India need 50 runs in 36 balls
Rohit (46no) and Suryakumar (37no) have shared a half-century stand for the second wicket. The hosts need 61 from 48 balls in Jaipur.
Suryakumar Yadav uses his feet and dances down the track to meet the ball on a fullish length. It flies over the long-on region for a maximum. 15 runs from the over and IND: IND 104/1 after 12 ovs
India have moved on to 85/1 off their first 10 overs. At the same stage in their innings, New Zealand were 65/1.
SKY with the sweep and he misses, loud shout from the bowler and New Zealand review. Nothing on UltraEdge, and we're going ahead towards ball-tracking - Impact outside off.
Suryakumar Yadav ends it with a boundary. Quite a good one for India except for the wicket of KL Rahul which came in Mitchell Santner's over. IND: 56/1 after 6 ovs
After a strong start by the Indian openers, Santner strikes and gets KL Rahul with his first ball. Santner gets a much-needed breakthrough with his first ball. IND: 50/1 in 5 overs
TWENTY-ONE RUNS OFF THAT OVER! A maximum for Rahul to start things off in the 5th over, and then the captain takes centrestage, punishing Boult all across the park! India skipper Rohit races to 31 not out from 17 balls, with his side 50/0 after just five overs.
That was a short ball and into the rib cage but Rahul makes the adjustment and pulls it over deep square leg for a six!
And now a maximum to finish the over! IND: 24/0 after 3 overs
The Hitman is underway! Two consecutive exquisite shots through the off-side from the Indian captain
Rahul and Rohit are at the crease. Rahul is on strike. Southee will open the attack.
India in run chases in home T20Is:
21 chases
17 wins
4 defeats (3 vs NZ)
Chapman's fifty was his first in T20Is for New Zealand - having previously hit one for Hong Kong, against Oman, in 2015
A no-look SIX was hit today! Who remembers this one?
In the end Deepak Chahar was a relieved man, he finally had a wicket to show for his rewardless toil in his comeback game. But he had to endure few moments of agony for that moment of cathartic joy. Just as he was celebrating, the umpire intimated him that he was checking for a potential back-foot no-ball, to see if his back-foot had touched the return crease. It had not, and an agitated Chahar stared at Guptill with red-shot eyes. A stare that screamed all his pent-up rage. His first 19 balls had cost 40 runs, and bosom friends, swing and precision, had deserted him. The wicket put brakes on New Zealand’s breezy sprint and subsequently precipitated a collapse.
Final over of the innings and Siraj concedes just 7 runs. New Zealand have set a target of 165 for India to chase down. Martin Guptill was brilliant with the bat for New Zealand in the first T20I. Do they have enough? NZ: 164/6 in 20 overs
Siraj has set up Ravindra brilliantly, and finally disturbs the timber with a yorker! NZ: 162/6
There are few ruthless swing-the-length-ball through midwicket sluggers than Martin Guptill. For much of the World T20, his batting was laboured, strokes trickling than flowing from his bat. But give him a length ball on off-stump or thereabouts, angling into his body, he would just murder them with a ferocious whip of his bat. Mohammed Siraj would know—the length ball into the right-hander is one of his trusted wicket-taking method; if Guptill had missed the ball, he would have been out, leg before wicket. But Guptill barely ever misses out, as he stood where he was, unbothered about shifting his weight to either foot, and just pummelled it over midwicket in a blur, with a concoction of cold-eyed power and timing. A fielder was stationed near the ropes specifically for this shot, or if he miscued one. He rarely does. And so ferociously struck that the fielder looked dazed when he went to gather the ball, fed from someone in the stands. And it was not the only time he made an Indian bowler endure that crushing feeling.
Bhuvi gets his second of the night as Tim Seifert walks back. His great night continues as the slower ball gets Seifert. Surya with a sharp catch under the lights. NZ: 153/5 after 18.2 overs
OUT! Martin Guptill's stupendous knock of 70 comes to an end. Deepak Chahar with the wicket. Excellent comeback in the over from Chahar, as he concedes just 2 runs after the first ball went over the boundary. NZ: 150/4 in 17.2 overs
This is Chahar's reaction to Guptill's six!
Guptill stands tall and swings this over wide long-on for a 98 metre six.
Mark Chapman’s favourite cricketer was Stephen Fleming. So enthralled was he by Fleming that he calls him his first coach, though it was much later in life that he actually saw him in flesh and they had hardly exchanged any notes. “He was the guy who fired up my imagination, and by just watching him bat, I learned the basics of batting.” He does have a bit of Fleming in him, though he is shorter, more nuggety and power-packed than the languid Fleming. His leg-side strokes do have a Fleming-like efficiency about it, especially the flicks and the sweeps, where dwells timing more than power. A clinical sweeper, he barely spares leg-side balls. If there are not enough balls to be swept away, he manufactures the sweep, dragging balls from the fifth-stump line past square leg. If the bowlers err on the shorter side, he switches to Mark Greatbatch mode and bludgeons the ball through midwicket. Not a bad back-up the Kiwis have--someone who blends the apples-and-oranges pair of Fleming and Greatbatch
Performance of Ravi Ashwin since his return into the T20 format for India:
4-0-14-2
4-0-29-1
4-0-20-3
4-0-23-2
He's had Phillips in a tangle for all 3 balls that he faced, and has now trapped him plumb in front! Terrific bowling from a master craftsman. NZ: 110/3 after 14 ovs
Ashwin gets the dangerous Chapman! Chapman has been cleaned up, while looking for a big shot. Much needed breakthrough for India.
Deepak Chahar gets hit for 10 runs in the over as Mark Chapman (59*) and Martin Guptill (42*) bring up their 100-run partnership. A solid stand from Chapman and Guptill so far. India are in desperate need of a breakthrough. NZ: 106/1 after 13 overs.
2 1 1 2 6 4 = 16 runs off the 11th over bowled by Siraj as Martin Guptill changes gears. Meanwhile, Mark Chapman goes big for fifty, New Zealand are set for a strong finish. NZ: 81/1 after 11 overs
Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman have steadied the ship after the early wicket of Daryl Mitchell. Axar and Ashwin - the spin twins have pulled things back post the powerplay, but breaking the Guptill-Chapman stand holds the key. NZ: 65/1 after 10 overs
Since the beginning of 2020, India have handed over men’s T20I debut to 11 players, the most among all Test-playing nations during this period in the format.
Mark Chapman has got the measure of Chahar and smacks him for two fours and ends the over with a six! The big hit was over mid-wicket. Quite a hit that was. PowerPlay Ends. NZ: 41/1 after 6 overs
For the first time in the evening, we will see Ravi Ashwin bowl on his 50th T20I. Ashwin is playing his 50th T20I match. Bumrah (55) & Bhuvneshwar (53) are the only other specialist bowlers to play 50+ men's T20Is for India. He concedes 6 from the over. NZ: 26/1 after 5 overs
NZ's first boundary! Full and wide on the off from Chahar and the width is there and Chapman doesn't miss out on those. The pressure that was building up, releases a bit. NZ: 11/1 after 2 overs
When he gets his swing going, Bhuvneshwar is dangerous.
Daryl Mitchell is bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar's first ball! Perfect wrist position and the ball swings in after landing on the good length area. The batsman did not cover the incoming line, had no feet movement, spot-on from Bhuvi. Terrific start for India. NZ: 2/1 after 1 over
National anthems are done with. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has the new ball for Team India. Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell will open the innings for the Kiwis. Let's Play
"Everyone who plays cricket aspires to play for the country, so I feel good that I've been presented with this opportunity. Feels good to play under Rahul (Dravid) sir, I'm really excited and looking forward to it. As a cricketer, you got to be flexible, and I'll look to capitalise on the role I've been given. I'm ready to bat at any position, or bowl whenever I've been asked to. It's wonderful to play in front of the (Indian) crowd, it's great to have them back."
Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert(w), Rachin Ravindra, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee(c), Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj
India have won the toss and have opted to field.
Venkatesh Iyer has been handed his cap by Rohit Sharma and will make his T20I debut for India tonight. What a journey it has been for this young man.
The last time a T20 match was played at this venue was during IPL 2019 and the surface was quite batting friendly. The larger dimensions of the ground give spinners a chance as well. It is a night game, so dew could be a factor.
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Venkatesh Iyer
Shreyas Iyer
Harshal Patel
"They are a very good team, they are well led, they are well planned and well prepared, and yes, they have beaten India recently in a few tournaments - those are the facts. Herein lies a really good opportunity for us to keep improving and keep getting better, and hopefully the next time we get an opportunity in a big tournament against them, we put one over.". India's new head coach Rahul Dravid on opponents New Zealand.
(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WWWLL
New Zealand: LWWWW
A new start for Rohit Sharma as a full-time T20I Captain for India, with Rahul Dravid back in the dressing room but with a different role of a coach with a process in mind to improve Indian Cricket and the process begins today against New Zealand. However, the Kwis might find it tough to pick themselves up mentally so soon after losing the T20 World Cup final. Stay tuned for live updates.