Twitter Reactions: India batting first blast 202

Both the Indian openers scored 80s to give the team a fantastic start.

By Ankit Mishra

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2 Min Read

Shikhar Dhawan India
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Shikhar Dhawan plays a shot. (Photo Source: Twitter)

A jam-packed crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi welcomed the two teams with loud cheers as they turned up to watch three stars they’d given to the cricketing fraternity one of whom is playing his last match. Shikhar Dhawan, skipper Virat Kohli and Ashish Nehra. Kane Williamson won the toss on and as the outfield was already looking wet with dew wanted to get done with the bowling part first up.

Team India picked Nehra in the XI to give him a game in his last international appearance and also handed over Shreyas Iyer his maiden cap, they went in with a batsman less and picked an extra pacer. New Zealand picked two spinners in Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi. The Delhi boy Dhawan playing on his home ground wanted to stamp his authority and was evident from the way he started.

He was the aggressor and took on the Kiwi bowlers; he had his share of luck when Mitchell Santner dropped him on the score of 8. He didn’t back again and made the New Zealanders pay big for it. Rohit Sharma at the other end let him do the talking and rotated the strike while also punishing the bad balls at his end.

For most part of their partnership the duo was scoring very close to the 10 runs an over mark. Dhawan who is known to be a predominantly off-side player rocked on the back foot against the spinners to pull them for boundaries and even sixes. He was elegant and disdainful at the same time not allowing the bowlers anything to live with.

The ball was flying and the Kotla crowd already had the worth for their money. Dhawan got to his half century, soon overhauled his best score in the format and got out eventually in the 17th over having scored 80 runs from just 52 balls. He hit as many as ten boundaries and a couple of sixes.

Rohit meanwhile did struggle time the ball as crisp as Dhawan but after the half century also started to hit some magnificent shots. After Dhawan’s eventual departure in an obvious move the Indians promoted Hardik Pandya to No.3 but all he lasted was a ball and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi beat him with turn and bounce to get the outside edge.

The right-handed opener after he was 23 off 26 balls turned things around in the second part to end up with 80 from 55 balls. He was dismissed in the 19th over caught behind.

Skipper Virat Kohli walked out amidst deafening cheers showed just why he is regarded as the best limited-overs batter. The second ball he faced in the inning was deposited deep in the stands and the crowd went berserk. He played a little cameo with huge impact scoring 26 runs from just 11 deliveries. Irrespective of his regular game, he was dealing just in sixes today and hit three.

MS Dhoni was required in the last over and he joined the party plundering the very first ball for a massive six. The Indian innings eventually ended on 202/3 and the Kiwis have a massive task at hand to chase it down.

Twitterati had a ball as the Indian batsmen absolutely thrashed the New Zealand bowlers:

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