Ranchi: New Zealand after being put in scored 153 for 6 wickets in the second T20 International against India here Friday. Riding on Martin Guptill’s (31, 15b, 3×4, 2×6) knock, New Zealand got off to a flying start scoring 48 in 4.2 overs.
In the process Guptill also became the highest run-getter in T20 internationals going past Virat Kohli’s aggregate of 3,227 runs. Guptill who started the match needing 11 runs to break Kohli’s record currently has 3,248 runs in his kitty.
However, he fell trying to be over-aggressive. His partner Daryl Mitchell (31, 28b, 3×4) also got a start but failed to convert into a substantial score. In fact a number of Kiwi batters got starts but failed to play a long and substantial innings. So at one point of time when 180-plus total definitely looked on the cards, the Indian bowlers managed to restrict the Kiwis to less than eight runs per over.
Harshal Patel (2/25) was impressive on debut while spinners Axar Patel (1/26) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/19) also contributed to India’s bowling cause. Medium pacers Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up a wicket apiece but were expensive.