India held their nerve to seal a six-wicket victory in a last-over thriller against New Zealand in Lucknow. India chased a paltry total of 100 in the last over with just one ball to spare at the Ekana Stadium. New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner won the toss and chose to bat first on a turning track. New Zealand scored just 99 runs despite batting the full 20 overs with no player scoring more than 20 runs for the visitors.
India’s chase got off to a forgettable start as Shubman Gill departed early after making 11 runs. Ishan Kishan struggled in the middle and managed to make 19 runs in 32 balls. Rahul Tripathi’s 18-ball 13 further added to India’s problems.
Suryakumar Yadav was far from his free-flowing best as he struggled to get boundaries on the slow and low pitch. Washington Sundar’s promotion did not pay dividends with a knock of 10 in just 9 balls. Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar played gritty knocks to take India over the line.
In a rare display, Suryakumar only scored one boundary in his entire innings which was the winning shot. The world no. 1 T20I batter remained unbeaten on the crease with a knock of 26 in 31 balls. Skipper Hardik was key in calming things down for India as he also saw the victory through for India with a 20-ball 15 knock.
Earlier in the day, Indian spinners ran riot as the New Zealand batters appeared clueless. India used four spinners with Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, and Deepak Hooda taking one wicket each. Arshdeep Singh took two wickets while skipper Hardik also chipped in with one wicket.
The teams will now move to Ahmedabad where they will play the decider at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (February 1).
