IND vs NZ 1st T20I: Abhishek Sharma's Explosive Fifty Powers India To 48-Run Victory

 

 

India took 1-0 lead in the five match series beating New Zealand by 48 runs in the series opener play that the Vidarbha cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Abhishek Sharma shone with the bat scoring half century while Indian bowling unit dished out a collective effort. Glenn Phillip's lone fight goes in vain Chasing a daunting target of 239, New Zealand suffered two early blows. Devon Conway was dismissed on duck by Arshdeep Singh who started proceedings with the ball for the Indian team. Rachin Ravindra was dismissed on 1 by Hardik Pandya. Tim Robinson was also sent packing on 21 by the Indian bowling unit. The duo of Mark Chapman (39) and Glenn Philips provided some stability after fall of three wickets. The pair added 79 runs from 42 deliveries for the fourth wicket. After the former dismissed Philips kept fighting. He Scored 78 runs from 40 deliveries laced with 6 sixes but was unable to take the team over the finish line. Dairy mutual and Michell Santner put up some fight in the end but the target turned out to be too big to chase.Varun Chakravarthy and Shivam Dube picked two wickets each. Abhishek Sharma's sensational knock and Rinku Singh's carnage India posted 238/7 in the first innings against New Zealand in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh blasted fifties to guide India to a 200-plus total and hand the opposition a target of 239 runs. The historical data suggested that the surface usually witnesses low scores, but the Indian batters maintained the tempo right from the start and posted a challenging total on the scoreboard. It was Abhishek Sharma's show in the middle as India came to bat after New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl in the series opener. The wickets were failing from the other end, but Abhishek's hitting and the intent of the other batters to steer the run rate ensured that India always scored above a run rate of 10. The team lost two wickets early in the innings in the form of Sanju Samson (10) and Ishan Kishan (8), and India were reduced to 27/2. Suryakumar Yadav (32) joined hands with Abhishek to add 99 runs from 47 deliveries for the third wicket. Abhishek was dismissed after scoring 84 runs from 35 deliveries with the help of five boundaries and eight sixes. Hardik Pandya's hitting (25 from 16) and Rinku Singh's knock of an unbeaten 44 runs from 20 deliveries. Arshdeep Singh, conceding three dots in the penultimate over, restricted India from posting a huge total. Jacob Duffy and Kyle Jamieson picked up two wickets each for New Zealand. Captain's statements at the toss Mitchell Santner: We are going to bowl first. Looks like a pretty good wicket and looks pretty high-scoring. Last week was pretty special. Every team knows how hard it is to come to India and won but this is a fresh series, and they are a tough team in home conditions. Great start for us in terms of prep for the World Cup. Three seamers. Clarke makes his debut, and Jamieson and Duffy are playing as well. Suryakumar Yadav: We were looking to bowl first because we felt there was dew around 8.30 during our practice. But we don't mind putting runs on the board, and we have done well batting first. Shreyas, Harshit, Bishnoi and Kuldeep are the ones who are missing out. Playing XI New Zealand: Tim Robinson, Devon Conway(w), Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner(c), Kristian Clarke, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy India: Sanju Samson(w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh