New Zealand would have thought a little that they would claim victory at Nagpur and that too against the Numero Uno T20 side at the World T20 in India. New Zealand was jolted down for a low total of 126. Luke Ronchi’s cameo blitzkrieg and Cory Anderson’s slow and steady 34 facilitated the black caps to put down a decent total of 126. The Indian bowlers were good as usual. Martin Guptill’s first ball Sixer followed by his wicket made the game interesting. Due credit must be given to the Indian bowlers.They have been continuing their form since the Asia Cup and the Sri Lanka Series at home.
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With a small total on the board, Indian batters came down to chase glory. Sad they succumbed to pressure from the first over itself. The Men in Blue had never defeated the Black Caps in all their T20 encounters and even today they couldn’t. The Nagpur pitch helped the Kiwi Spinners. New Zealand planned a Spin attack for India. The Spin Trio of Mitchell Santner, Nathan McCullum and Ish Sodhi annihilated India. The Indian batters just came and went. No one seemed to show interest in staying there at the crease. Kohli’s presence gave some boost to the Indian fans but soon he left. A nick to the bowling of Ish Sodhi and he gave a simple catch to Luke Ronchi. He was out for 23 but the batsmen who followed simply threw their wickets. Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja, gave a simple catch to the Kiwi fielders of the bowling of Sodhi, Santner and McCullum. Now all hopes were laid on our captain cool Mahindra Singh Dhoni but he couldn’t do much. The Spin trap set by the New Zealanders put India to the back foot. The Indians could manage only 79 in pursuit of 126 and got humbled. Spinners proved vital at such a surface. The Indian Origin Ish Sodhi proved to be a Kiwi champion and claimed 3 wickets. Nathan McCullum got 2 wickets and Mitchell Santner knocked 4 wickets just for 11 runs. The Indian batsmen certainly have disappointed the Indian fans but the tournament is still young and there are plenty of matches to go.
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Having drawn in a difficult group comprising of teams such as New Zeland, Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, India is certainly going to face the music. They need to come back hard and win their upcoming games. The battle of supremacy has just begun with New Zeland defeating India at their own backyard. Mitchell Santner received the player of the match award for his well deserved 4 for 11.
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Such a performance would definitely hurt the morale of any team. With arch rival Pakistan up next and the Mauka ads doing rounds across the channels, all eyes would be on India’s preparation for their next games. Today, our middle order got exposed to the Spin attack and Pakistan may plan a similar strategy in their game. With Bangladesh looking strong after their recent successfully performance in the Asia Cup where they defeated UAE, Pakistan and Srilanka, a lot would be expected from them. Certainly tough days for Indian Cricket Team after losing the Tournament Opener. You can Visit this blog for the World Cup News. #India #WorldT20 #WT20
Best of Luck Team India for the Epic battle on 19th March 2016.
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