India won the third T20I against New Zealand in the super over thus winning the 5-match T20I series 3-0. Kane Williamson’s sensational knock of 95 runs from 48 balls while chasing the target of 180 runs set by India was of no use in the end. It turned out to be a very dramatic close match which made the hearts beat faster than usual, especially towards the end. Here is the full match story.
New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Seddon Park ground in Hamilton, NZ.
Batting first, Rohit Sharma had a cautious start while KL Rahul pressed the accelerator from the other end. After the first few overs, once Rohit Sharma felt comfortable, he immediately shifted his gears. New Zealand fast bowlers were not able to control the run flow from Rahul and Rohit’s bat. Scott Kuggeleijn was the only fast bowler who seemed effective with his short length 140+ deliveries and created some problems for the Indian batsmen.
But in the 6th over, bowled by Hamish Bennett, Rohit Sharma went berserk and hit three sixes and two fours. He completed his fifty runs in just 23 balls on the last ball of that over with a six.
Nothing was working for Kane Williamson. So he made one more bowling change as he gave the ball to Colin de Grandhomme. Colin de Grandhomme bowled tight first few balls and took the important wicket of KL Rahul on the last ball of his over. KL Rahul made 27 runs from 19 balls, hitting 2 fours and 1 six. India were 89/1 in 9 overs at that stage.
Kane Williamson made full use of this sudden break to the free-flowing Indian innings.
He brought Scott Kuggeleijn back into the attack who bowled yet another tight over, as Shivam Dube came in to bat at No.3 instead of captain Virat Kohli.
Shivam Dube could not make the most of the opportunity as he played a lot of dot balls. That put pressure on Rohit Sharma who decided to go big in the next Hamish Bennett over. But Sharma failed to pick the slower one from Hamish Bennett and gave an easy catch to the safe fielder Tim Southee in the long-on region.
Rohit Sharma made 65 runs from 40 balls, hitting 6 fours and 3 sixes. India were 94/2 in 10.4 overs.
In the same over, left-hander Shivam Dube too gave a simple catch towards his deep point region and New Zealand were back in the game. Dube made only 3 runs from 7 balls and India fell down to 96/3 in 11 overs. Once again India’s experimentation with the No.3 spot could not bear fruits.
Now it was on No.4 Virat Kohli and No.5 Shreyas Iyer to take India to a strong total.
Kohli and Iyer played quite sensibly, hitting only on the weak balls. Meanwhile, Ish Sodhi completed his 4 overs. Sodhi bowled quite well and gave only 23 runs.
In the next over of Santner, Shreyas Iyer hit a massive straight six but then in the very same over got stumped out. Iyer made 17 runs from 15 balls, hitting 1 six and 0 four.
After the initial terrific start, India had certainly lost most of the initial momentum as now the scoreboard showed 142/4 in 17 overs.
Virat Kohli looked in control on the other end who was batting on 31 runs from 22 balls as Manish Pandey joined him in the middle.
In the 19th over, Hamish Bennett took his third wicket in the form of Virat Kohli. Good comeback by Bennett after the initial 27-run over. Kohli made 38 runs from 27 balls, hitting 2 fours and 1 sixes.
In the end, India managed to take the total to 179/5 in 20 overs. Manish Pandey stayed not-out on 14 runs from 6 balls, hitting 1 four and 1 six and Ravindra Jadeja scored not-out 10 runs from 5 balls, hitting 1 six.
Chasing the target of 180 runs, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill hit a straight huge six on the second ball of the match. He sent the ball over the camera tower on the bowling of Shardul Thakur. But Thakur came back well in that over, giving only two more runs. Mohammed Shami too bowled a tight next over.
Unexpectedly, in the third over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, Martin Guptill hit two sixes. One six was off the edge and the second one was a quite smart shot just using the pace of the bowler hitting the ball over the wicket-keeper’s head.
In the 4th over, Colin Munro got hit on his ribs by the short ball bowled by Mohammed Shami. But after some help from the physio, he was back on his feet.
New Zealand were cruising along quite well until the 6th over by Shardul Thakur, in which Martin Guptill hit straight into the hands of the substitute fielder Sanju Samson standing in the deep point cover region. New Zealand were 47/1 in 5.4 overs.
In the next over, Colin Munro got stumped out on the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja and NZ were 52/2 in 6.2 overs. Guptill made 31 runs from 21 balls, hitting 2 fours and 3 sixes while Munro made 14 runs from 16 balls, hitting 2 fours.
Once again the responsibility fell on the shoulders of captain Kane Williamson. The new batsman Mitchell Santner was trying his best to share some of that responsibility.
Williamson-Santner combo scored 14 runs from the 8th over, bowled by Shivam Dube, with Santner hitting four and Williamson hitting six. Williamson managed to turn the momentum back towards New Zealand.
Soon Virat Kohli brought back Jasprit Bumrah who bowled a perfect short slower one, which Santner wanted to flick towards his leg-side, but failed to pick. The ball took the outer edge of the bat and went up in the air between the point and deep point region. Jadeja ran backward to catch the ball. It was a difficult chance and the catch was dropped. Jasprit Bumrah tried to hide his disappointment with a smile.
In the next over, Chahal went for back to back boundaries but then cleaned bowled Santner. The slight short-length ball came right in and rattled the stumps and NZ were down to 88/3 in 10.4 overs.
In the next over of Jadeja, Kane Williamson survived a close stump-out chance by a very fine margin, as the third umpire took her time and made the pending decision clear by showing ‘not-out’ on the big screen. There was a loud cheer from the New Zealand fans.
After 12 overs, NZ needed 89 runs from 48 balls. Williamson hit a slog sweep to Chahal for a six. And then in the next over, he hit another six towards the deep point region to Mohammed Shami and then a four to finish the over.
Jadeja too suffered the heat in the next over as the Kane Williamson hit two back-to-back sixes. He continued the carnage as he hit an inside out six towards the deep covers region on the first ball of the Shardul Thakur over.
Thakur once again came back stronger by bowling two dots balls and then taking the wicket of Colin de Grandhomme on the last ball of the over. Grandhomme got out on 5 runs from 11 balls. He clearly struggled.
NZ were 137/4 in 16 overs and needed 43 runs from 24 balls.
It looked difficult as Bumrah had two overs left, but Williamson had other plans.
Williamson hit three back-to-back fours in the Bumrah’s over. Bumrah came back with a perfect yorker. The match was still on!
Williamson was too exceptional tonight. He kept the run-rate in check with sensational shots to all sides of the ground. In the second last over, he again hit some smart fours on the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah and brought the equation to 9 runs from 6 balls.
In the final over, Ross Taylor hits six on the 1st ball of Shami and then took a single.
Kane Williamson tried to hit the ball towards the third man region but gave a catch to wicket-keeper KL Rahul.
Yes, Williamson was now out! Missing his 1st T20I hundred by just 5 runs. He made 95 runs from 48 balls, hitting 8 fours and 6 sixes.
Now NZ needed 2 runs from 4 balls and it seemed as if New Zealand will easily win the match.
But World-Cup hat-trick taker Shami produced some of the smartest deliveries in the most crucial high-pressure stage of the match.
Mohammed Shami next bowled 2 perfect short and slightly-wide deliveries and took the equation to 1 run from 1 ball. Tim Siefert failed to connect the ball to the bat both times but managed to sneak a single the second time, as the keeper Rahul collected the ball.
And finally, on the last ball, Mohammad Shami put the final nail in the coffin by bowling a yorker which clean-bowled Ross Taylor, with the ball taking the inside edge of his bat. Mohammed Shami gave 32 runs in 4 overs and took two wickets, while Thakur took 2 wickets giving 21 runs in 3 overs. Jadeja and Chahal took one wicket each.
The match was tied. It was time for Super Over!
NZ had batted second in the match. So they had to bat first in the Super Over.
Captain Kohli gave the ball to Jasprit Bumrah, who already had a quite bad day giving 45 runs in 4 overs with no wicket. NZ sent captain Kane Williamson and regular opener Martin Guptill for batting.
Bumrah’s bad day continued as Williamson hit 1 four and 1 six while Martin Guptill hit 1 four and New Zealand scored a good 17 runs in the Super over.
India sent Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul as batsmen for the super over. NZ gave the ball to Tim Southee.
India started slow, Rohit Sharma failed to time the 1st ball and took two runs. Next, he took one run.
KL Rahul managed to hit a four and then took one run.
And then it was all on Rohit Sharma who had to score 10 runs from 2 balls.
Rohit Sharma, the Hitman as he is called, hits two back-to-back sixes! It was unbelievable! The Indian crowd was loud and jumping with joy, while the NZ team and fans tried to digest one more super over loss with deep sad hearts.
With the super-over win, India win what was one of the most thrilling T20I matches of the recent times.
With the match, India also won the series 3-0. Two T20Is are remaining in the series.
Rohit Sharma was named Man of the Match for his 65 runs in 40 balls and then 15 runs in the super over.
The next T20I of the 5-match T20I series will be played on Friday, January 31, 2020, while the last one will be played on Sunday, February 2. It will be a matter of pride and respect for New Zealand as they will try to win the last two matches, as they have already lost this T20I series in their own backyard.
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