IND v NZ World T20 Review: New Zealand out-spin India to register a stunning win

The Super 10 stage of the World T20 got off to an exciting start as New Zealand defeated hosts India in a low-scoring clash. The Kiwis spinners enjoyed the full benefit of the turning wicket at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur and wove their magic to completely bamboozle the Indian batsmen. Mitchell Santner (4/11) and Ish Sodhi (3/18) were the chief architects of the win with Nathan McCullum (2/15) also playing a vital role.

Kane Williamson’s captaincy tactics deserve applause. The young skipper made an eyebrow-raising call to leave out his bowler spearhead Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Henry Nicolls and Mitchell McClenaghan and pick three spinners instead.

India had a horrible start to the chase as they lost their openers cheaply in the first couple of overs. New Zealand began with spin straightaway with Nathan McCullum opening the bowling off-spinner. Considering the amount of support from the pitch, it was a good decision which paid off instantly as McCullum, after beginning tightly, struck off the 5th ball of the over with the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan.

Dhawan, who was looking to be coming back into his natural flair, failed to connect while sweeping and was trapped leg before. The next to go was Rohit Sharma. Williamson went in for a change quickly and replaced McCullum with the Mitchell Santner. The promising left-arm spinner did not take long to create an impact. Rohit Sharma tried to advance down the pitch and missed the ball completely to get stumped behind by Luke Ronchi.

Santner struck against in the same over after he managed to unpick Suresh Raina. The southpaw, who had a brilliant day so far, turned out to be a total dud with the bat after he departed for a single. Wickets were falling from one end but Virat Kohli was in a counter-attacking mode and found runs easily.

But, more troubles were waiting for India from the Kiwis spinner. Nathan McCullum was brought back into the attack and snapped up the wicket of the Yuvraj Singh.

A couple of overs later Ish Sodhi was introduced to the attack and delivered the most heartbreaking blow to India. He induced Virat Kohli to a false drive and got him caught behind. The scenes had become very intense.

India lost Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja in back to back overs adding to the misery. MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin tried to control the ongoings and batted briefly together for a 30 runs stand and kept the hopes alive for the hosts. However, Ish Sodhi, who getting a prodigious turn from the pitch, produced a beauty to snap the wicket of Ashwin.

The flickering hopes now were on skipper MS Dhoni who was playing a fighting innings. However, Santner got his fourth wicket of the day after Nathan McCullum judged a wonderful running catch to dismiss Dhoni and pocket the match. Adam Milne then came back and completed the formality in the following over to clean bowling Nehra and wrap up the match for the Blackcaps by a margin of 47 runs.

Earlier, New Zealand batted first after winning the flip of the coin. Martin Guptill blasted a six off the first ball of the match by Ravichandran Ashwin to start the proceedings with a bang. However, the off-spinner retaliated by trapping the big right-hander leg before. The whole Indian bowling attack got into the act from here on. Nehra took a wicket in a powerplay for the ninth consecutive time after he managed to dismiss Colin Munro. Skipper Kane Williamson also lost his wicket cheaply.

Ross Taylor and Corey Anderson showed some resistance for some overs but Suresh Raina’s amazing fielding effort off his own bowling resulted in Taylor getting run out in the 12th over. Mitchell Santner and Anderson then forged a brief 28 runs stand before Anderson’s (34 from 42) cautious innings was brought to an end by Jasprit Bumrah.  Luke Ronchi (21 from 11 balls) also made a vital contribution towards the end of the innings to enable New Zealand to reach 126/7 after the end of 20 overs.

Brief Scores: 

New Zealand: 127/7 in 20 overs (Corey Anderson 34; Jasprit Bumrah 1/15)

India: 79 all out in 18.1 overs (MS Dhoni 30; Mitchell Santner 4/11)

Man of the Match: Mitchell Santner