Rohit Sharma and Rahul dravid started off their innings as captain and coach with a win, as India beat New Zealand in Jaipur by five wickets.
“Towards the end we saw it wasn’t easy, was a great learning for the guys..” These were India’s newly appointed T20I skipper Rohit Sharma’s first words after picking up his first win as the full-time skipper.
Chasing 165, India started well as Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul hit the Blackcaps bowlers all over the park, reaching 50 inside five overs. India lost the first wicket on the last over of the powerplay, after which the run rate dipped a little. Mitchell Santer, Todd Astle and Lockie Ferguson joined forces to restrict Rohit and SKY to play their shots.
Rohit departed for 48 in the 14th over, with India needing 56 from 40 balls. The responsibility was then on Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant to take their team home.
“It was a great learning for them to understand what needs to be done, it’s not about power-hitting all the time, and you try and put the ball to the left or right of the fielder and try and take singles or find boundaries.
The duo played some sensible cricket and added 35 runs for the third wicket before Trent Boult removed his Mumbai Indians teammate. Suryakumar made a 40-ball 62, and his captain acknowledged his efforts. “Surya batted birlliantly and that’s how he plays, he played some percentage shots as well and plays spin really well and uses the pace well for the fast bowlers,” said Rohit.
India eventually got over the line but lost two more wickets in the process and finished the job only in the third-last ball of the match as Rishabh Pant hit Daryl Mitchell for a boundary over mid-off.
Rohit also praised the bowlers for restricting New Zealand to a par score. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin got two wickets each, while Deepak Chahar and Siraj picked up apiece. Axar Patel, India’s fifth bowler, went wicketless, but he played a crucial role in stopping the run flow.
“It was a great effort from all our bowlers. They (Ashwin and Axar) bowl in tandem for the Delhi Capitals and they are always looking to take wickets which is a good sign and it’s important to try and put the brakes and those guys do that.”
India and New Zealand face each other again in Ranchi on Saturday, November 19, before the final match in Kolkata two days later.
