New Zealand maintained their record by winning the opening T20 match against India in Nagpur, while the Indian eves produced a clinical performance as they thrashed Bangladesh by 72 runs in the opening group league fixture of the ICC World T20 on Tuesday at Bengaluru. Indian men have never won a single T20 match against the Blackcaps till now. New Zealand had struggled to cope with the tough conditions after Kane Williamson opted to bat, but by reducing the home team to 43/7 in 10.2 overs the squeeze was applied on India in stunning manner.
India were eventually bowled out for 79 in 18.1 overs, with Mitchell Santner leading the rout with 4/11. India's run of seven wins in a row has come to a halt. New Zealand dropped Tim Southee and Trent Boult to accommodate three spinners, and the decision proved a masterstroke. Taking wickets was the only way of beating India in defence of a total of 127, but New Zealand's ability to do so in pairs was what left everyone stunned.
India lost Shikhar Dhawan in the first over of their chase, sweeping at Nathan McCullum, but that was not as alarming as Mitchell Santner's opening over which accounted for Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, both out to feeble shots. Rohit skipped out and was beaten for turn to be stumped by a fumbling Luke Ronchi, while Raina merely turned one to midwicket for the simplest of catches. In his first over at a major tournament, the left-arm spinner had struck two telling blows with tidy, smart bowling.
The fourth wicket came when McCullum returned to bowl the fifth over and held a return catch from Yuvraj Singh, which needed clarification from the third umpire. Virat Kohli had appeared to be batting in a different game on a different pitch as he clipped and drove Corey Anderson for sumptuous boundaries, but a faint edge to the legspinner Ish Sodhi's first delivery of the game had Kohli walking.
Here, Williamson's shuffling of his bowlers was crucial. Santner returned to bowl his second over, the tenth of the innings, and won an lbw shout against Hardik Pandya with a quicker ball. Four balls later, Sodhi flung himself to his left to hold a fine return catch from Ravindra Jadeja. M S Dhoni, standing at the non-strikers' end, looked stone-faced.
A big six down the ground off Sodhi gave the fans reason to cheer, but celebrations were soon muted when R Ashwin fell to the same bowler, for Ronchi's third dismissal. That left India to get 52 from 19 balls, but when McCullum held a low catch at long-on to get Dhoni (30) off Santner, the flame had been extinguished. Santner capped his first outing at an ICC event with exemplary figures, having earlier contributed a crucial 18 to New Zealand's total.
Such a dramatic collapse from India was not what many could have predicted, even factoring in the slow and low nature of the Nagpur track. In the first half, New Zealand's aggressive intent against a settled and successful Indian bowling attack had misfired more than it hit the bullseye.
Brief scores: New Zealand 126/7 in 20 overs (Corey Anderson 34, Luke Ronchi 21*) beat India 78 in 18.1 overs (Virat Kohli 23, Mitchell Santner 4/11, Ish Sodhi 3/18) by 47 runs
Indian women thrash Bangladesh
Indian women thrashed Bangladesh by 72 runs in the opening group league fixture of the ICC World T20 on Tuesday. Batting first, India scored 163 for five with skipper Mithali Raj scoring 42 off 35 balls and Harmanpreet Kaur smashing 40 off 29 balls with three fours and two sixes.
In reply, Bangladesh could only manage 91 for five in 20 overs as they never looked like posing any challenge for the 'Women In Blue'. Put into bat, skipper Raj and her opening partner VR Vanitha added 62 runs for the opening wicket.
The Indian captain started her innings by cracking back-to-back boundaries of Salma Khatun in the second over of the match. Mithali was lucky on 28 as Khadija Tul Kubra spilled a return catch after she plopped a catch at a height. She was picked up by leg-spinner Rumana Ahmed, who foxed the batswoman, who ended up giving a dolly to Jahanara Alam.
With scoreboard reading 95 for 2 in 15th over, Harmanpreet upped the tempo with two sixes. Then in 18th over, Harmanpreet clobbered two consecutive boundaries of Rumana. The shots were treat to watch as she hammered one over midwicket and followed it up by whipping the ball between deep midwicket and long-on.
Brief scores: India 163 for 5 (Mithali Raj 42, Harmanpreet Kaur 40, Veda Krishnamurthy 36 no, VR Vanitha 38); Bangladesh 91 for 5 in 20 overs (Anuja Patil 2 for 16, Poonam Yadav 2 for 17).
