Bleeding Blue: 16 off 6 too much for 2 Indias

Hamilton, February 10 

New Zealand denied India a perfect finish to their highly successful tour Down Under by clinching the T20I series 2-1 with a narrow four-run win in the series-deciding third match here today. India savoured a historic Test and ODI bilateral series win in Australia before recording their biggest ODI series win on New Zealand soil. A first ever T20I series win here would have been the  icing on the cake but the hosts held their nerves to pull off a thrilling victory. With today’s result, India lost their first T20I series after winning nine and drawing one. 

India needed to knock off a stiff 213-run target to bring down the curtain on a memorable three-month tour in a befitting manner. Exploiting the batting-friendly conditions at the small Seddon Park ground, New Zealand cut the Indian attack to shreds to post an imposing 212/4. Opener Colin Munro produced a 40-ball 72 and shared an 80-run stand with fellow opener Tim Seifert (43) to lay the foundation for the big score. Krunal Pandya was the most expensive of the Indian bowlers, bleeding 54 runs in his four overs. If it were not for Kuldeep Yadav’s (2/26) tight bowling in the middle overs, India would have had even a bigger target to chase. 

Strong reply 

India captain Rohit Sharma, who usually bats aggressively in such situations, made an uncharacteristically slow 32-ball 38. Vijay Shankar (43 off 28 balls) played a useful knock after Shikhar Dhawan (5) fell early. Rishabh Pant (28 off 12) and Hardik Pandya (21 off 11) infused life into India’s chase but perished while trying to keep up with the steep asking rate. The situation was just right for MS Dhoni to show he could manage the high-scoring chase as well, but he fell for 2 while trying to clear the ropes. 

Dramatic last over 

India needed 16 runs off the final over. Dinesh Karthik (33* off 16) took a double off the first ball but missed the second which appeared to be a wide but wasn’t called. On the third ball, Karthik stunned the crowd and his teammates by refusing a single. Krunal (26* off 30) had reached the striker’s end but Karthik sent him back. He could manage only a single off the next ball as Tim Southee bowled a straight ball. By then, the match had clearly slipped out of India’s hands. Both Karthik and Krunal did exceedingly well to take the game into the final over, but their unbeaten 63-run effort off 28 balls fell just short. — PTI

In Numbers

1 First defeat for India in a three-match bilateral T20I series. India had played 10 such series before, winning 9 and drawing 1 

131 Runs conceded by Hardik Pandya in this series, which is most by an India bowler in a bilateral T20I series 

18 Stumpings off Kuldeep Yadav in international cricket, most for any player since he made his debut:

• Bowler Stumpings
• Kuldeep Yadav 18
• Yuzvendra Chahal 15
• Adil Rashid         11
• Shakib Al Hasan 9

MSD as ‘keeper

MS Dhoni has kept wickets in 594 international innings (Tests+ODIs+T20Is), second to Mark Boucher.

Dhoni’s 300th T20

MS Dhoni played his 300th T20 match today, including matches in IPL. Details:

Dhoni @ 300 

• Team Matches
• India 96
• Chennai Super Kings 169
• Pune Supergiants 30
• Jharkhand 4
• Indians on Tour 1
• Total 300

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND 

• Runs Balls 4s 6s
• T Seifert st Dhoni b Yadav 43 25 3 3
• C Munro c H Pandya b Yadav 72 40 5 5
• K Williamson c Yadav b Ahmed 27 21 3 0
• C de Grandhomme c Dhoni b Kumar 30 16 3 1
• D Mitchell not out 19 11 3 0
• R Taylor not out 14 7 1 1

Extras: (LB-4, W-3) 7

Total: (For 4 wkts, 20 overs) 212

FOW: 1-80, 2-135, 3-150, 4-193

• Bowling O M R W
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4 0 37 1
• Khaleel Ahmed 4 0 47 1
• Hardik Pandya 4 0 44 0
• Krunal Pandya 4 0 54 0
• Kuldeep Yadav 4 0 26 2

INDIA 

• Runs Balls 4s 6s
• S Dhawan c Mitchell b Santner 5 4 1 0
• R Sharma c Seifert b Mitchell 38 32 3 0
• V Shankar c Grandhomme b Santner 43 28 5 2
• R Pant c Williamson b Tickner 28 12 1 3
• H Pandya c Williamson b Kuggeleijn 21 11 1 2
• MS Dhoni c Southee b Mitchell 2 4 0 0
• D Karthik not out 33 16 0 4
• K Pandya not out 26 13 2 2

Extras: (lb-1, w-11) 12

Total: (For 6 wkts, 20 overs) 208

FOW: 1-6, 2-81, 3-121, 4-141, 5-145, 6-145

• Bowling O M R W
• Mitchell Santner 3 0 32 2
• Tim Southee 4 0 47 0
• Scott Kuggeleijn 4 0 37 1
• Blair Tickner 4 0 34 1
• Ish Sodhi 2 0 30 0
• Daryl Mitchell 3 0 27 2

Man of the Match: Colin Munro

Man of the Series: Tim Seifert