New Zealand vs India, 2020: 2nd T20I – India’s rare achievement against NZ, KL Rahul’s records as a keeper, Kohli's rare failure in a T20I chase and more stats

India strengthened their lead in the 5-match T20I series against New Zealand to 2-0 as they recorded their second consecutive win at Eden Park. The pitch turned out to be slightly slower this time and the home team batsmen struggled to get going. They were restricted to 132/5 in their 20 overs. India lost the wickets of senior batsmen in the powerplay but KL Rahul (57* off 50) and Shreyas Iyer (44 off 33) helped India to finish off the chase with 15 balls and seven wickets to spare.

All the statistical highlights from India’s second consecutive win on the New Zealand tour:

A first for India against New Zealand:

1 – India won consecutive matches in the T20I format against New Zealand for the first time. India lost each of their first five T20Is against the Blackcaps while their three wins against them between 2017 and 2019 came in alternative matches.

Contrasting results for India and New Zealand in Auckland:

12 – New Zealand now has lost 12 matches out of 21 matches they played in the T20I format at the Eden Park. They won six of the remaining nine T20Is they played at this venue while another three games ended in a Tie. Only Zimbabwe (18 at the Harare SC), Sri Lanka (16 in RPS-Colombo) and Bangladesh (15 in SBNS-Dhaka) lost more T20Is in Men’s cricket than New Zealand’s 12 in Auckland.

3 – This was India’s 3rd T20I victory at Auckland’s Eden Park in as many as three appearances here. All the three T20I wins of India on New Zealand soil came at this venue only. India lost all the remaining four T20Is they in New Zealand at any venue outside Auckland.

A hat-trick of fifties for Rahul:

3 – KL Rahul became only the 3rd Indian player with three consecutive fifty-plus scores in Men’s T20I cricket. Virat Kohli has three such streaks (2012, 2014 and 2016) while Rohit Sharma scored three in a row in 2018.

Records for Rahul – The keeper:

1 – KL Rahul became the first player in the history of T20I cricket to score fifties in the first two matches as a wicketkeeper. Rahul’s 56 in the first match was the highest score by a player from a full-member nation in his first T20I game as a keeper.

1 – Rahul is also the first Indian wicketkeeper to score fifties in consecutive innings/matches in the T20I format. In fact, MS Dhoni (2) is the only other Indian to score multiple fifties as a wicketkeeper.

2 – Rahul is only the 2nd Indian wicketkeeper to win a player of the match award in Men’s T20I cricket. Dinesh Karthik was awarded the player of the match during the 2018 Nidahas final against Bangladesh.

Sodhi @ 50:

50 – The wicket of Shreyas Iyer was the 50th wicket for Ish Sodhi in T20I cricket. He thus became only the 4th player to take 50 T20I wickets in Men’s cricket for New Zealand after Tim Southee (77), Nathan McCullum (58) and Mitchell Santner (50).

Kohli’s winning streak in New Zealand:

5 – Virat Kohli has won all the five matches he has led India in International cricket on New Zealand soil. These are the joint-most International wins for an Asian captain against the Blackcaps in New Zealand. Saleem Malik, Mohammad Azharuddin and Shahid Afridi also have five wins over NZ in NZ. Kohli, however, is the first Asian skipper with five consecutive Intl wins over the Kiwis in New Zealand.

Southee goes past Rashid Khan:

43 – Number of wickets for Tim Southee in the T20I cricket on the New Zealand soil; the most number of T20I wickets by any player in a country in Men’s cricket. Southee, thus, went past Rashid Khan’s tally of 42 T20I wickets in India.

Milestone for Guptill-Munro pair:

1007 – Martin Guptill and Colin Munro pair is now only the 8th pair and the 2nd from New Zealand with 1000+ partnership runs in Men’s T20Is. Guptill shared 1151 partnership runs with Kane Williamson in this format.

A tight spell from Jadeja:

2/18 – Ravindra Jadeja’s 2/18 in this match are the most economical bowling figures by a visiting bowler at the Eden Park in a Men’s T20I. (Min: 4 overs) Pakistan’s Imad Wasim had figures of 1/18 during the T20I played here in 2016.

A rare failure for Kohli in a T20I chase:

11 – Runs scored by Virat Kohli in this match; his 2nd lowest score in during a run-chase in the T20I format. Kohli’s lowest score in a T20I chase is 4 runs against Australia during the 2018 Brisbane T20I. Overall, Virat Kohli scored at least 20 runs in 30 out of 34 chases in the T20I format.