Team India surrendered their advantage in the T20I series against the Kiwis as they lost the 2nd T20I at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Ground in Rajkot by 40 runs as the three match series was leveled 1-1. Ring on a sensational century by New Zealand opener Colin Munro New Zealand reached a huge score of 196/2 in their allotted 20 overs. It was a good performance by the Indian bowlers towards the later part of the innings which prevented the Kiwis from going beyond 200 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah was the standout bowler for the men in Blue which ensured that the Kiwis despite losing only two wickets couldn’t quite get over the 200 mark. India required a good start to harbor any hopes of chasing the total down but it wasn’t to be as both openers Rohit Sharma, and Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed cheaply as the Men in Blue were reduced to 11/2.
Dhawan was castled by a terrific inswinger which came in sharply and breached his defense. Rohit Sharma began with a boundary but couldn’t quite carry on and was dismissed by Boult with a terrific outswinger. Captain Kohli and Shreyas Iyer struck some terrific shots and shared a good partnership, but the introduction of the spinners brought the run rate down.
Kohli’s innings of 65 went in vain as the Men in Blue eventually fell short of the target by 40 runs. MS Dhoni was the 2nd highest scorer for the hosts with 49, but when it mattered the most, the former skipper didn’t manage to bring out the big shots consistently enough which never allowed India to make a comeback in the game.
Rohit Sharma who managed only 5 took a sly dig at Harbhajan Singh’s remarks that the opening duo of Rohit and Dhawan needed to play out the new ball to help India chase down the total of 197 as he felt it was chasable on the Rajkot wicket. Journalist Vikrant Gupta taking to his twitter handle wrote, “Bhajju @harbhajan_singh feels 197 chasable, but Rohit-Shikhar have to play out the new ball #BachkeRehna @StarSportsIndia #IndvNZ”
Rohit Sharma was quick to reply where he wrote on a sarcastic note, “Such a valid point we didn’t realise”. It was a dig taken by Rohit as the remarks might haven’t gone well with him.