New Zealand vs India, 2020, 5th T20I- Who Said What

New Zealand had to play for nothing, but pride in the fifth and final T20I at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. Nevertheless, the Black Caps flattered to deceive yet another time and ended up losing by seven wickets. On the other hand, India stormed to a series whitewash by 5-0. The home team had every chance of winning the last game, but they allowed the Men in Blue to get a foothold.

Rohit takes charge

India didn’t have the best of starts after electing to bat first. Sanju Samson drove one into Mitchell Santner’s hands off Scott Kuggelejin. But Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul stepped on the gas and the helped the visitors put 53 runs in the powerplay. The Men in Blue had a tough time ever since as they could manage 90 runs in the last 14 overs. Rohit and Rahul’s stand eventually fetched 88 runs.

Hamish Bennett got rid of Rahul, who a 33-ball 45, to separate the duo. Rohit notched his fifty off 35 balls, batting at three. To his dismay, after he reached 60, he walked off due to an injury. The Indian vice-captain smashed three fours and as many sixes to become India’s top-scorer. Manish Pandey’s short, yet useful cameo of 11 off 4 balls and propelled India to a competitive 163 in their 20 overs.

India inflict a clean-sweep

Jasprit Bumrah’s wicket-maiden started proceedings for India. The speedster trapped Martin Guptill in front to strike first blood. Colin Munro perished to Washington Sundar after finding the boundary two times. A shambolic mix-up bet Tom Bruce and Tim Seifert led to the former’s dismissal. Seifert and Ross Taylor got the Kiwis back with a 99-run stand. Shivam Dube was taken to the cleaners.

The batting duo scored 34 off the pacer’s only over and brought down the required run rate down to around 6.50. However, from there on, the home team lost their way. Seifert perished after a 30-ball 50 after which Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner followed suit. Navdeep Saini jolted the Kiwis, taking Taylor, who scored 53 off 47. Ish Sodhi got a 10-ball 16, but it wasn’t enough for the hosts.

KL Rahul, the Player of the Series, added

Yea, I am pleased. It is great to be standing here winning 5-0. Very happy that my performances could result in victories for India. We were happy to come into this series with confidence and to keep executing our skills every game. We came up with answers from every situation and it is a great result for me and the side.

I am batting really well now and I am happy to do the roles I am doing for my side. Not thinking too much about the T20 World Cup at the moment, but hopefully I can continue batting this way. I think it is a winning habit that we have cultivated wherein we want to win every time we step onto the ground. As a team we keep believing in each other.

It is unfortunate what happened with Rohit, but hopefully he’ll be fine in a couple of days. Leading up to the World Cup, there were a few strategies that we wanted to try out. It just keeps giving us more and more confidence to keep going around.

We’ll relax a little bit over the next couple of days and enjoy the victory. But once we start with the next series, the process will remain the same. We want to win games of cricket every time we go out. The kind of cricket we are playing is fun to watch and we hope to keep repeating this.

Jasprit Bumrah, Player of the Match, said

Feeling very good. The match got close at one point but we had belief that if we can squeeze in one or two good overs, the match can get close. It was windy, I was trying to use the wind and the longer side of the boundary. Very happy with the learnings, different ground dimensions, first time in New Zealand; great result.

Virat Kohli, the India skipper, said

All of us are really proud of how we played. It’s about finding ways to win. Today, all these young guys were on the field after Rohit’s unfortunate injury and them coming together and handling the pressure well is great to see. We need everyone to be the best versions of themselves.

These kind of victories give more satisfaction than one-sided wins. Although the scoreline may not reflect, New Zealand is in great hands with Kane Williamson leading them, they are side headed in the right direction.

Tim Southee, the New Zealand skipper, said

It’s another close one, unfortunately on the wrong side again. If you give them a sniff, they take it with both hands. I don’t think it is a massive gap, the scoreline does suggest that, but we only need to do the smaller things better. The ODIs are a different format, new personnel come in and it is a format where we have done well.