India vs New Zealand World T20: 5 Talking Points of the match

Cricket is a funny game. Many were skeptical about Kane Williamson’s decision to go with 3 spinners. And Oh Boy, how well it worked for the Kiwis. On a turning pitch, the Indians were out-done in their one den by some excellent all-round cricket by the Kiwis, as New Zealand defeat India by 47 runs to gain the first couple of points of the tournament.

Opting to bat first, New Zealand posted a competitive 126, thanks to some excellent batting from Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi. The Indians started off the wrong foot chasing the modest total, as they crumbled to the Kiwi spin trio of Santner-McCullum-Sodhi. Just three Indian batsmen managed to cross the double figures, and spells doom for India ahead of the crucial encounter against Pakistan. New Zealand, meanwhile, have upped their stakes to bag their first ever World T20 Title with a superlative performance.

Here are the 5 Talking Points of the match

1. New Zealand start aggressive but lose wickets

When a batsman hits a six off the very first ball of the innings, the intent is pretty obvious. Martin Guptill started off with a brilliant six, but Ashwin pulled one back to pick up his wicket. All in the span of just two balls. That was the story of the New Zealand powerplay. While the batsmen targeted the Indian bowlers right from the start, they lost a couple of quick wickets in the process. Nehra got off to an excellent start; picking up the wicket of dangerous Colin Munro in his very first over. Dhoni’s gamble to bring in Raina worked wonders; who removed Williamson with some consistent bowling. With the scorecard reading 36 from 7 overs, India were right on top of the game going into the middle overs.

2. Anderson plays a patient knock, boundaries dry up

Corey Anderson was batting at an unfamiliar position of two down, but the maturity shown by the all-rounder today were signs of things to come for New Zealand. Being sent ahead of Ross Taylor, Anderson repaid his captain’s trust by timing his innings to perfection. While he punished the bad deliveries without hesitation, he rotated the strike well enough for runs to not dry up. Though Ross Taylor was undone by an excellent piece of work by Raina, Anderson kept going on. While the boundaries were hard to come by – just 3 between 8^th over and 15^th over of the innings, Anderson’s crucial knock kept the scorecard ticking. Anderson’s 42 ball 34 might not look great off the scorecard, his innings was invaluable considering the context of the innings.

3. Bumrah’s excellent death bowling, Ronchi’s cameo

Jasprit Bumrah has definitely been India’s find of the season, and the third of  his quota today showed glimpses of his true potential. An over consisting of 5 perfectly bowled yorkers, including  the crucial wicket of Corey Anderson. The fielding was spot on, and margin of error was little from the Indians. Bumrah was well-supported by Ravindra Jadeja from the other end, and a score of 120+ looked bleak for New Zealand, but Ronchi’s excellent cameo of 21 off just 11 balls, pushed New Zealand post a defendable 126 on board. On a slow, turning pitch, New Zealand fancied their chances despite the strong Indian batting line-up.

4. McCullum, Santner destroy Indian batting order

Indians losing wickets to spinners used to be a rarity during the days of Tendulkars and Dravids. But off late the Indian batting line up, ironically, have not been quite upto the mark against spinners. And Williamson’s almost laughable decision to drop Tim Southee and Trent Boult to accommodate 3 spinners worked like a charm. The Indian batsmen were undone by some exhibition spin bowling from Nathan McCullum and Mitchell Santner. While Dhawan played the ball off the wrong length, Sharma failed to judge the line of the ball, resulting in him being stumped. Raina and Yuvraj paid their price for poor shot selection, with the former paying the price for playing uppishly. Kohli and Dhoni looked to steady the sinking ship, but the introduction of Ish Sodhi was the final nail in the coffin for India, as he picked out Kohli with a Warne-sque delivery in the very first ball of his spell.

5. Santner, Sodhi complete the last rites

Once Kohli was dismissed, it was just a matter of time for the Kiwis to bag the match. Dhoni played a lone battle against the Kiwi bowlers, who were absolutely relentless with their line and lengths. While wickets in hand was ever the problem, the run-rate, which was just above 6 at the start of the innings, creped towards 10. Pandya and Jadeja failed to impress yet again, questioning their abilities as a batsmen in the Indian team. While Ashwin gave some much-required company to Dhoni, it was too little too late as the run-rate was well over 10 by last 5 overs. Santner and Sodhi ran through the Indian tail-enders, and Dhoni’s late outburst was too little too late by that time.  The Kiwis bagged a well-deserved victory soon enough, after bowling out India with 11 balls to spare and defeating the hosts by 47 runs.