4 talking points from India’s series-leveling win at Auckland
After a record-breaking loss in the first T20I, India needed something special to come back into the three-match series, and they did exactly just that to win the 2nd match by 7 wickets with seven balls to spare and thereby making the final T20I a decider.
It was a surprising decision at the toss from New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson when he won the toss and decided to bat first on a ground which has seen some very high scores being chased down quite comfortably.
Despite some criticism from the last game’s performances, Rohit Sharma decided to play with the same XI to give them all another chance to prove themselves.
His bowling group, after going for over 200 in the previous match, didn’t disappoint this time around as they restricted the Kiwis to 158, which was well below par on that wicket and especially the size of the ground.
The only way New Zealand could have defended the total was to pick up few early wickets and put pressure on a relatively inexperienced Indian middle order. But that didn’t happen as both Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan got the team off to a wonderful start and that was good enough for the side to cross the line without much fuss.
It was a great day for statisticians around the world as Rohit Sharma broke a few records along the way.
He became the highest run scorer in T20I cricket at the moment with 2,288 runs, overtaking New Zealand’s Martin Guptill and also scored the most number of fifties in this format, his 20th, overtaking Virat Kohli’s 19. Also the Rohit Sharma-Shikhar Dhawan combination has scored 1,480 runs, which is the most number of runs together in T20Is.
Lets look at four talking points from India’s seriesleveling win at Auckland:
#1 Rohit Sharma's brilliant captaincy
It is no more a surprise to see Rohit Sharma lead a side very well. We all know that he has led Mumbai Indians to three IPL titles and has also done well while leading the country in Virat Kohli's absence.
Rohit’s leadership skill was once again on show even before the first ball was bowled. After a disastrous loss in the previous game, almost any captain would have decided to change either the balance or the personnel in the side but Rohit Sharma felt that it would be unfair to drop someone just after one game and stuck with the same side.
He bowled Krunal Pandya from the end where the leg side boundary for right-handers was the longer side and also had the courage to use his left arm spinner inside the powerplay overs. Krunal didn’t disappoint his captain as he finished with 3-28 from his 4-over quota and that went a long way in restricting the Kiwis to 158.