India vs New Zealand 2019: 1st T20I – Player Ratings
India did win the ODI series pretty easily but they haven't started the T20I series on the right note. It was the other way round as India were completely outplayed in the first T20I. New Zealand was brilliant in all the three departments as they won the game by 80 runs. Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first. Pant and Pandya got a chance for India whereas Daryll Mitchell made his debut for the Kiwis. NZ got off to a perfect start as they had a 86 run opening partnership. That set up the perfect platform for the coming batsmen and as a result, India had to chase a huge score of 220. Chasing 220, India lost wickets at regular intervals in trying to up the ante and got bowled out for 139. India will look to make a comeback in the next game on Friday whereas New Zealand will try and build on the momentum.
Here are the player ratings for both the teams.
India
Rohit Sharma – 3/10
When you are chasing a big total you have to go for your shots from the start. He tried doing that but lost his wicket for just a single. India needed a big score from their captain to chase such a big score.
Shikhar Dhawan – 5/10
Dhawan looked good for a while but got out by a serious yorker from Lockie Ferguson. He stroked some beautiful boundaries in his innings of 29 off 18 balls but couldn't keep the Yorker away.
Vijay Shankar – 5/10
Shankar too started his innings well as he took on Scott Kuggeleijn in the fifth over of the powerplay. He got out on 27 when he looked to slog Santner as there was the pressure of the asking rate. It was surprising that he didn't bowl a single over.
Rishabh Pant – 3/10
A lot was expected from this young man but he didn't really live up to the expectations. Playing his first game on the tour he didn't look comfortable and got out on four off ten balls.
MS Dhoni – 7/10
The required run-rate had gone over 14 when MS Dhoni came to the crease. Dhoni couldn't do much more as wickets kept falling at the other end. He scored 39 off 31 balls to keep the game going or else India could have lost by a bigger margin.
Dinesh Karthik – 3/10
Dinesh Karthik too got out while trying to bring the asking rate down. He tried to sweep Sodhi and got caught on the boundary by Southee. He didn't have a great day in the field as well as he dropped two catches.
Hardik Pandya – 4/10
Hardik Pandya was the most expensive bowler from the Indian side. Even though he picked up two wickets he gave more than 50 runs in his four overs. He didn't do much with the bat as well as he got out after hitting a boundary.
Krunal Pandya – 7/10
Krunal was excellent with the ball. Even though he has gone for 37 in his four overs he bowled really well in his first three. It was his last over which went for a few. He gave India the first breakthrough as he picked up the wicket of Munro and even had a dropped catch off his bowling. He batted for a while with Dhoni to put up a 50 run partnership.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 5/10
Bhuvi didn't have a great day as he got hammered in most of his overs. He was economical in his first over as he gave only four runs but then gave away 43 in the next three. He took the wicket of Taylor to avoid the damage to a certain extent.
Yuzvendra Chahal – 6/10
Chahal was a bit better than the others. He gave away runs at an economy rate of 8.8 which was acceptable to a certain extent on that wicket. He picked up the important wicket of Kane Williamson who was looking set at that moment.
Khaleel Ahmed – 5/10
Khaleel too wasn't at his best as he had an economy rate of 12 at the end of his four overs. He picked up the wicket of Seifert who was looking really dangerous on 84. But definitely, he could have been better.