“Oh, New Zealand! Surely you can’t do this again.” That’s how most fans reacted as Kiwis once again found a way to take the game to Super-over and the result wasn’t any different this time either. If on Wednesday it was Shami, today it was Shardul’s turn. KL Rahul played the role of Rohit here by delivering two big shots in the first two balls. Let’s look back at the 5 talking points of this exciting finish.
1. Test the bench strength:
As series already in the bag, Virat Kohli had indicated that he would give reserved players a go. So Rohit, Jadeja, and Shami were rested to get Samson, Sundar, and Saini respectively.
Quite a big surprise was that Rishabh Pant still couldn’t find a spot in XI. Not long ago he was first choice wicketkeeper in all 3 formats and today he is struggling to claim the 2nd keeper’s place.
On the other side, Kane Williamson was ruled out due to shoulder injury. Stand-in skipper Tim Southee won the toss and invited India to bat.
2. Manish Pandey arrested a collapse:
In the absence of Rohit, Sanju Samson got an opportunity to open and he threw it away with an ugly hoick across the line in the only 2nd over of innings. A leading-edge towards cover ended Kohli’s short stay.
Rahul was looking in fine touch but he dispatched a long-hop straight to hands of deep mid-wicket. The lower middle order failed to answer any questions posted by Sodhi and Santner. India were tottering at 88/6 in only the 12th over.
Then Manish Pandey held the fort for India and with some decent cameos by Thakur and Saini, he took India to a fighting total. The highlight of his innings was he never backed away to take risks and always kept eying for that 160-mark. He let Thakur and Saini play shots and hardly shied away from giving strike.
The most impressive part was his running between wickets and how he kept manipulating the larger part of the boundaries to get the twos. Sneaking a bye without any head start (despite the keeper managing a direct-hit) left commentators amazed by his fitness.
3. Munro show:
Kiwi openers struggled against the initial burst by Bumrah & co. Eventually, Guptill perished as he skied a short ball for a wicketkeeper.
But Munro covered up nicely against spinners. He especially targeted Washington Sundar and forced Kohli to go for the 6th bowling option in the form of Shivam Dube.
In the meanwhile, Tim Siefert got his eye in and started to match up Munro’s strokeplay. Contrary to NZ’s spinners’ success, Indian spinners conceded 62 runs in 6 overs.
New Zealand were firmly placed at halfway stage needing 87 runs with 9 wickets in hand.
4. Kohli’s brilliance in the middle of another awful fielding show:
India were looking totally down and out against this Munro-Siefert partnership. Then a brilliant piece of work in the field by the captain himself provided India a much-needed breakthrough which eventually proved the turning point of the match.
Kohli who was standing at cover intercepted a throw from sweeper cover and hit the bull’s eye to catch Munro short. An amazing quick relay fielding work which must have left Munro dumbfounded as he walked back towards the dressing room run-out.
Though that act by captain doesn’t reflect India’s efforts today. Saini dropped a chance at long-on and in the same over Bumrah dropped another short third man off Chahal. Apart from the misfields and overthrows just adding to the misery.
5. Deja vu:
36 runs required off 30 balls, 26 off 24, 18 off 18, 11 off 12, 7 off 6. You would back batting side in each of these situations. wouldn’t you?
But after what happened at Hamilton, nobody was ready to leave their seats and at the end, the nightmare came true for New Zealand in the form of super-over.
What Shami did in that last over at Hamilton, Indian pacers followed that method much earlier which is to pull the length back.
Bumrah & Saini were looking to hit the length hard while Shardul trusted his knuckleball more. 19th over which was bowled by Saini when he conceded only 4 runs, which left just enough in the bank for India to create harakiri. Rahul who missed out the chance to run Taylor out other day, hit the bull’s eye to send Seifert back.
Then in super-over India’s poor fielding show continued which kept New Zealand in the game. Iyer and Rahul dropped straight forward chances to offer New Zealand some extra runs.
Chasing the target of 14, Rahul killed the chase in the first two balls itself but then again his wicket made things a bit tricky. But experienced Kohli managed it smartly. A well-judged double and a pull shot over mid-wicket sealed the game for India, as India won one more match in the series, reaching 4-0!
Now the final match of the T20I series will be on Sunday, February 2, 2020 and then the three-match ODI series will begin on Wednesday, February 5.
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