World T20 2016: India surrender to New Zealand Spinners

By: Drcricket7 Staff

The slow and low turner which was supposed to have given an edge over New Zealand in the opening game of the World T20.

But India’s opening game turned out to be damn squib in Nagpur. Because the hosts, who were the favourites, lost to New Zealand by a margin as big as 47 runs in a low-scoring match.

In other words, it was a meek surrender by the Indian batsmen that saw such a disastrous fall from grace. In short, India didn’t play like the best T20 team in the world.

This match also ensured New Zealand’s clean slate against India in T20s. They have five wins over India from five games.

Opting to bat first, New Zealand were kept under pressure by a few Indian bowlers and eventually finished with a score of 126 for seven in 20 stipulated overs.

From there on, the New Zealand spinners took over the centre stage and skittled out the home team to a mere 79. Incidentally, this was also India’s lowest total in World T20s.

Within fifth over of their chase, India lost four wickets – one after the other. By the time Virat Kohli (26) got out in the ninth over, Indian captain MS Dhoni (30) had a very little left to rekindle the hope of winning.

Slow left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner took four Indian wickets and was the pick among the Kiwi bowlers. He was accordingly adjudged the man-of-match for his deadly spell.

Santner also produced the second best bowling performance in an innings by a New Zealander in World T20s. Those who doubted their captain Kane Williamson’s decision to drop a leading pacer like Tim Southee and induct a lesser known name like Ish Sodhi was duly rewarded.

The Indian born New Zealand leg-spinner Sodhi took the crucial wicket of inform Kohli and finished with three scalps while slightly more experienced Nathan McCullum took two. In all, New Zealand spinners took nine Indian wickets in the match.

Right from Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh to all-rounder Hardik Pandya — all of them batted as if the was a demon on the pitch.

Of course, there was a plenty of turn for the spinners, but it wasn’t an unplayable pitch. In the second essay of the match, the Jamtha pitch was certainly on the slower side, but it had enough juice to sustain a winning total of 127 runs.

Even in the first innings, the slowness of the pitch was indicated when Corey Anderson, who is generally a big hitter of the cricket ball, toiled to make 34 off 42 deliveries.

Surprisingly, India could only hit four boundaries and a six before collapsing like a pack of cards during the chase.

With this loss, the hosts et will surely have to pull up their socks and come back strongly into the tournament in the next game against Pakistan, which is schedule to be played on Saturday at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

But before that match, India have a plenty of thinking to do and ensure that their batting don’t let them down again!