The Indian Cricket Team produced a dominating performance to beat the hosts New Zealand by 7 wickets in the 2nd T20I played at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to bat first. Martin Guptill and Colin Munro could not play aggressive strokes against the Indian bowlers. Yuzvendra Chahal was bought into the attack in 5th over. Before the end of power play overs, Shardul Thakur struck to dismiss Guptill for 33. New Zealand openers added 48 runs. At the end of six overs, New Zealand were 48 for 1.
After the power play overs, the Indian bowlers kept tight line and length which did not allow New Zealand batsmen to score runs easily. Shivam Dube got the big wicket of Colin Munro with a good catch by Virat Kohli. Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Colin de Grandhomme cheaply to put New Zealand under pressure. The New Zealand captain Kane Williamson struggled to score runs and was dismissed for 14 off 20 balls by Jadeja. Ross Taylor faced lots of troubles to hit big shots while Tim Seifert played some lovely shots. Bumrah was superb in death overs giving away 3 in the 18th over. In the 20th over, Bumrah dismissed Taylor with a slower delivery. Taylor and Seifert added 44 runs for the 5th wicket. New Zealand could only post 132 for 5 in 20 overs.
Chasing 133 runs to win, Rohit Sharma hit 2 boundaries before being dismissed by Tim Southee in the first over. KL Rahul played some lovely which put the Kiwis bowlers under pressure. At the run of play, Kohli got out with leg side tickle catch by Seifert. At the end of 6 overs, India were 40 for 2.
After the power play overs, Rahul and Iyer rotated the strike well. Iyer survived run out chances and then made New Zealand bowlers pay with big shots against Sodhi. In attempt to hit another big shot, Iyer was dismissed for 44 off 39 balls. Iyer and Rahul added 96 runs for the 3rd wicket. Rahul impressed with his stroke play and reached his fifty off 43 balls. Shivam Dube hit a six to help Team India register a comfortable 7 wicket win with 15 balls to spare.
India 135 for 3 in 17.3 overs ( KL Rahul 57*, Shreyas Iyer 44, Tim Southee 2/20) beat New Zealand 132 for 5 in 20 overs ( Martin Guptill 33, Tim Seifert 33*, Ravindra Jadeja 2/18, Bumrah 1/21) by 7 wickets.
KL Rahul for his 57* was awarded the man of the match. India now has a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series. The third match will be played on 29th January at Hamilton.
