NAGPUR: India rode on a blistering 35-ball 84 from Abhishek Sharma to post a massive 238 for seven against New Zealand in the opening T20I of the five-match series in Nagpur on Wednesday, before reducing the visitors to two down in their chase of 239.
Earlier, New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and elected to bowl. The Kiwis handed Kristian Clarke a debut as part of the pace battery, also including Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy. For India, Shreyas Iyer, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav missed out.
India’s innings began on a shaky note. Kyle Jamieson removed Sanju Samson for 10 in the second over, and Ishan Kishan also departed cheaply for eight, falling to the other opening bowler Jacob Duffy.
Abhishek and captain Suryakumar Yadav then stabilised the innings with a sparkling 99-run stand for the third wicket.
Coming into the game on a lean run, SKY showed glimpses of his old self before holing out to Tim Robinson at long-on off Santner for 32 off 22 balls.
Abhishek, who raced to his fifty off just 22 balls, continued his assault before eventually falling to leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, being snapped up by Jamieson when he attempted to hammer a delivery over long-on. His knock of 84 was studded with five fours and eight sixes.
Rinku Singh provided the late fireworks. The southpaw went berserk in the final over, smashing Daryl Mitchell for two sixes and as many fours as India plundered 21 runs.
Apart from Abhishek, Rinku contributed 44 not out off 20 balls, while Hardik Pandya made 25 off 16 balls to propel the hosts to a daunting total.
For New Zealand, Duffy returned figures of 2/27, Jamieson 2/54, while Santner (1/37) and Sodhi (1/38) chipped in with a wicket apiece.
Clarke finally managed to claim his first T20I wicket on debut, his slower ball outfoxing Axar Patel, who found the fielder at long-off as India slipped to seven down.
In reply, Arshdeep Singh produced an eventful first over. He conceded just one run and removed Devon Conway.
India also lost a review on the fifth ball of the over when Tim Robinson was struck on the front pad. The ball was swinging late and heading down the leg side, but the hosts challenged the umpire’s decision of ‘not out’ and ended up wasting a DRS.
Arshdeep then continued with the new ball as Conway faced the first delivery with Robinson at the other end.
A delivery that drifted slightly down the leg side was called a dot ball by the umpire as it remained inside the red line on the leg side.
At the time of writing, New Zealand were two down in their chase of 239, with India firmly in control despite the prospect of dew in the second innings.
New Zealand came into the five-match T20 series after winning the ODI series 2-1.
Teams:
India: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy.
New Zealand: Tim Robinson, Devon Conway (wk), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy.
(With PTI inputs)