Team India made a terrific start in the thee-match T20I series against New Zealand winning the second game in Mount Maunganui on Sunday, November 20 taking a 1-0 lead. While Suryakumar Yadav was the star of the show with the bat smashing his second T20I century, the Men in Blue needed to do the job with the ball as well and even though Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the big wicket of Finn Allen in the very first, it was all-rounder Deepak Hooda, who ran riot in the middle overs.
Kane Williamson and Devon Conway took some time to get their eyes in and just when they looked like upping the ante, it all came apart for the hosts and Hooda was at the centre of it. After dismissing Daryl Mitchell, Hooda ran through New Zealand’s lower order dismissing Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi and Tim Southee and was even had a chance to take a hat-trick at one point.
Hooda ended up with four wickets and his spell of 4/10 is the best by a bowler in T20Is between India and New Zealand as he surpassed Mitchell Santner’s 4/11 when the left-arm spinner bamboozled Indian batting order in the 2016 T20 World Cup match in Nagpur.
Best bowling figures in IND vs NZ T20Is
4/10 – Deepak Hooda* (India), Mount Maunganui (2022)
4/11 – Mitchell Santner (New Zealand), Nagpur (2016)
4/20 – Daniel Vettori (New Zealand), Johannesburg (2007)
4/34 – Trent Boult (New Zealand), Rajkot (2017)
After the win, skipper Hardik Pandya was vocal about the fact that Indian T20 side needs more batters, who can bowl and the way Hooda bowled on Sunday is an encouraging sign. “I have bowled a lot, going forward I want to see more bowling options. Not always that this will work but I want more batters to chip in with the ball. I expect them to be professional, which they are,” Hardik said at the post-match presentation after the win.
