India Vs New Zealand T20 Cricket: The Tying Spree & The Indian Glee!

Two days back I wrote ‘You hardly come across tied T20I matches…!’ now; circumstances force me to cancel that kind of condescending writing style and write ‘the tying spree…’! Because, after the Hamilton tie you get on your platter another Wellington tie—the second successive tie with, as usual, New Zealand snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and India winning again in the super over. Thus, winning the Wellington 4^th T20I match today Team India makes it 4-0 in the five-match Series. Hamilton: the Kiwis win toss, elect to field first, India set a target of 179, New Zealand lose two wickets in the 20^th over, fail to score 2 runs off 4 balls and ties the match at 179; in the super over New Zealand set a target of 18 runs, India overhaul it winning the match and the Series. Wellington: the Kiwis win toss, elect to field first, India set a target of 166 runs, New Zealand lose four wickets in the 20^th over, fail to make 20 runs off 21 balls with seven wickets standing at one stage; in the super over New Zealand set a target of 14 runs, India overhaul easily winning the match and taking the lead to 4-0. In both cases the graph is similar with equally inexplicable batting rigmarole of the Kiwis. Anyway, Indian fans rejoice again, not as much for making it 4-0 as getting the excitement of an unexpected tie for the second time in succession.

India looked to be suffering from a ‘defeat wish’ from the very beginning today: as expected after winning the Series they experimented with abandon—dropping a batsman in the most explosive form (Rohit) or rather ‘resting him’ as they say and more set players being rested  making way for the IPL talents (as for your innocent query as to why Indian cricket superstars need so much rest the Indian team management would not be able to give a suitable reply); then they suffer a batting collapse with only Manish Pandey (50 not out) giving some semblance of respect in setting the final target of 165/8. With two of the Indian top-form bowlers including the gamechanger Shami in Hamilton being rested too, it was New Zealand’s game, overwhelmingly. And, cruising at 159 for just 3 the Kiwis looked to have the first winning taste in this series. However, it was not to be: both of the set batsmen—Munro (64) and Seifert (57)—got run-out at important junctures. And then, the 20^thover: what Shami did in Hamilton, player-of-the-match Shardul Thakur did in Wellington; as in Hamilton Taylor paved the way for defeat by getting out—this time to Thakur, then the crucial run-out of Seifert, next Thakur gets Mitchell out caught and the last ball saw the run-out of Santner. So, in the 20^th over the Kiwis lost 4 wickets including 2 run-outs instead of simply getting the 7 runs required. There were 3 run-outs in the NZ innings speaking volumes for the spirited Indian fielders.

Apart from the bounty of 2 successive ties, Team India, it needs to be mentioned, shows a new kind of resolve to get back into a match from any situation and finally winning it—be it in the super over or otherwise. This new-found spirit augurs well for the team in the coming T20 World Cup in Australia. However, this result does not justify the mindless experimentation, and blindly trying out the so-called IPL talents. Such experimentation didn’t help the team in winning the one-day World Cup-2019 and many of the then-experimented players now languish in the dumps, several veterans being ignored continuously. It is also interesting to note that now; India is winning more with only a make-shift wicket-keeper in the team than 4 wicket-keepers in a playing eleven in many of the earlier short-format matches!

T20 Cricket: Rohit Again as India Win A Super-Over Thriller, Seal T20I Series Against New Zealand!

You hardly come across tied T20I matches any part in the cricketing world; but today the third Twenty20 International match between India and New Zealand in Hamilton became one, and incredibly so. Indian opener Rohit Sharma starred in the Indian innings after being put into bat with 65 off 40 balls in a team total of 179/5, and yet again in the super over overhauling the New Zealand challenge of 18 runs with two sixes in the final two balls. A terrific 95 off just 48 balls by Kiwi captain Kane Williamson was in vain as he fell to Shami with just 2 runs needed off 4 balls of the final over. New Zealand needing 9 runs to win, Shami started the 20^th over conceding a six to Taylor, then 1 run to Taylor that brings Williamson into strike, third ball gets him out caught in the gully, next ball dot to Seifert, fifth ball yields a bye, and the sixth ball bowls Taylor ending the match in a tie allowing a super-over finish. Mohammed Shami was justifiably the Game-changer of the match while Rohit bagged the Player of the Match honor.

On a somewhat slow pitch India began with an explosive partnership of 89 runs with Rohit racing to his half century in just 23 balls—the second fastest in T20 cricket. However, the Kiwi bowlers adjusted to the pitch superbly by bowling slower ones with spinner Sodhi doing extremely well giving away only 23 runs in 4 overs. India seemed to lose the plot of a 200+ target, and the changes in batting order didn’t help at all: when the stage was set perfectly for Virat Kohli after the fall of Rahul and with Rohit going great guns, in came not Kohli nor Shreyas nor even Pandey, but Shivam Dubey! Well, experiment and the IPL youngsters, no doubt! But for Jadeja and Pandey hitting some lusty blows in the final couple of overs the target could have been much easier than 179. Even then, the target of 180 was not a tall order and the Kiwis almost proved it. The pace bowlers of both teams toiled hard on the field—Southee for NZ and Jasprit Bumrah for India proving very expensive and wicketless.   

The match reminds one of the ICC Cricket World Cup-2019 Final when New Zealand failed to win in similar situations against England, and even a super-over could not yield a winner, leading to a result that still disturbs many. For India too, the name ‘New Zealand’ rankles thanks to the semi-final of the World Cup when India failed to cope with the Kiwi pacers the run-out of Dhoni being the turning point. That India have sealed the five-match T20I Series in New Zealand against New Zealand at 3-0 winning the first two matches in Auckland with relative ease would make a lot of Indian fans happy, not to mention the ecstasy of today’s incredibly exciting thriller going the Indian way at the very end.

Cricket: Rohit Ton As India Win ODI Series Against Australia!

It's always a great feeling beating Australia anywhere; greater if winning a series against them. India have achieved a series win beating the visitors in the third and final one-day international match by 7 wickets in Bangalore today. The match was India's the moment opener Rohit Sharma took full charge chasing 287 and blasted his way to a century (119, 8 fours, 6 sixes). Captain Virat Kohli gave him exciting company quickly getting to his half century and better. The versatile KL Rahul had to open again in place of injured Dhawan, and this time failed to make a defining contribution.

Earlier Australian captain Aaron Finch gave an indecipherable googly at the toss: he won it for the third time, and decided to have the first strike this time, to Kohli's surprise and glee. Maybe thanks to India's dominant batting in Rajkot after being put into bat Finch must have planned for a huge total to put pressure on India in the final encounter. But it was not to be as the Indian bowlers showed far greater discipline and control: Shami got Warner out early and the run-out of Finch set the visitors back; Shami went on to capture four wickets. Steven Smith took control hitting a brilliant ton and built a partnership with Labuschagne who made a half century. But after that Australia suffered a collapse and couldn't cross the 300 mark, managing 286 for the loss of 9 wickets in 50 overs. Jadeja bowled good again today capturing 2 scalps while Saini and Kuldeep got one each. It's a bit surprising that India's main strike pacer Bumrah failed to take a wicket; he was wicket less too in the Mumbai match and just managed to take one in Rajkot.

India's famed batting prowess was in a delightful display tonight with Rohit, Virat and Shreyas Iyer making mincemeat of Australia's famed bowling prowess. Virat made 89 in 91 balls and Iyer remained unbeaten on 44 off 35 balls. It was all over in 47.3 overs, India bagged one more ODI Series win.

India's home season ends here; they go to New Zealand next, and then quite a few T20I matches building up the momentum for the ICC T20 World Cup-2020 in October in Australia.