10.45 pm India remain winless in T20 internationals against New Zealand, having lost five in five. And who would have seen this coming when New Zealand had been kept to 126 after choosing to bat? As it turned out, Kane Williamson read this pitch perfectly. He had the guts to leave out Boult, Southee and McClenaghan on this pitch and play Sodhi, Nathan McCullum and Mitchell Santner. I didn't think it was a good decision, and very few seemed to as well. Hats off to the New Zealand management. Sodhi, Santner and McCullum have beaten India at their own game and a humbling defeat it is.
Santner is the man of the match: "There was a bit of spin out there, they bowled well to keep us to 120, that was below par, but we got stuck in and I;m delighted with the win. Jadeja was really spinning it, starting was hard ..trying to get to 130 140 but in the end 126 proved to be enough."
Cric Fan: "Opened up with a six, closed out with the middle stump! That sumarises kiwis performance today. Awesome!!"
Shankar: "Williamson's captaincy is the best tribute possible to Martin Crowe! The smart captain legacy continues! "
venx: "Well played NZ! You stuck to your game plan and gave it good. Pitch conditions were same for both the teams and you executed your plans very well. "
Dhawal: "Miracles don't happen. New Zealand certainly created miracle by playing 3 spinners. Hats off to them!"
I'll have the captains quotes for you shortly.
Williamson: "Very pleased, tough surface, with the bat whatever score was going to be tough, we would have liked to have a few more. We wanted to be aggressive at the start, the format dictates that, we may reflect on that though and try and do it better ... (on selection) that's tough they are world class bowlers, but we had to look at the conditions and it came off today ... The message to the bowling attack ..we knew the best way to take wicket is to be patient and apply pressure and we did that well."
Dhoni: "I think it was a low scoring wicket, I thought we restricted them to a good total, the batting let us down, the shot selection kept putting pressure on the batsmen coming in ... They bowled well, exploited the conditions, but we lacked adaptability, we could have applied ourselves a little more. The batting let us down."
Jez: "Well the comment about 140 spinners proved correct. Count the deliveries bowled by spin bowlers."
And that brings us to the end of a quite incredible game. India knew the conditions better, they had the better spinners on paper, and they kept New Zealand to a total that both captains felt was below par. And then their batsmen sank against a fairly unheralded spin attack. New Zealand have secured a massive victory in a really tough group.
Greening: "Indian players just don't have the crucial Georgie Pie Super Smash experience to allow them to be competitive with New Zealand." And with that Feedback of the Day, I will call it a night. Thank you for all your emails today, and thank you for reading. Cheers.
A Nehra b Milne 0 (4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
zafar: "George, please don't take it personal, but commentary regarding turn is getting funny. I mean you were never turned on by turn before." I am just amazed by how much it is turning.
END OF OVER:18 | 4 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 79/9 (48 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 4.38, RRR: 24.00)
- Jasprit Bumrah0 (2b)
- Ashish Nehra0 (3b)
- Mitchell Santner4-0-11-4
- Ish Sodhi4-0-18-3
Tanvir: "Funny how India batted nicely in a pitch full of grass in Bangladesh but failing badly in a spinning track at home! Mr. Ravi Shastri is going to say to the curator "I want that green pitch" "
There is an exodus of fans from he stadium.
MS Dhoni c McCullum b Santner 30 (30b 1x4 1x6) SR: 100.00
Hari: "Great first game! Note #1 to India: Respect conditions and opponents Note #2 to India: Better to get kicked in the rear end in beginning than during knockouts"
END OF OVER:17 | 9 Runs 1 Wkt | IND: 75/8 (52 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 4.41, RRR: 17.33)
- Ashish Nehra0 (3b)
- MS Dhoni26 (26b)
- Ish Sodhi4-0-18-3
- Corey Anderson3-0-18-0
R Ashwin st †Ronchi b Sodhi 10 (20b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00