IND vs NZ: New Zealand thrashed India by 80 runs to win the first T20I match in Wellington

India lost the first T20I match against the Kiwis by a massive 80 runs. Opener Rohit Sharma was struggling from start before he gave a catch to Lockie Ferguson off Tim Southee’s ball. Sharma made just 1 run off 5 balls. Shikhar Dhawan was looking good as he smashed 29 runs off 18 balls including 3 sixes and 2 fours but was dismissed by Ferguson.

Vijay Shankar also made contributions with the bat as he was promoted up the order. Shankar made 27 runs off 18 balls. Rishabh Pant continued his poor batting performance in T20Is as he was dismissed by Santner for just 4 runs.

Dinesh Karthik too didn’t contribute much as he made just 5 runs off 6 balls before giving away a catch to Southee off Ish Sodhi’s ball. Hardik Pandya came and went back to pavilion as he made just 4 runs off 4 balls.

MS Dhoni and Krunal Pandya nothced up a 50 run partnership before Krunal Pandya got out at 20 and Dhoni at 39. 

For New Zealand Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson all took 2 wickets each under their name, while Tim Southee took 3 and Daryl Mitchell 1. India were bundled out for 139 runs.

In the first innings, the host smashed visitors for 219 runs. It was raining sixes with Kiwi batsman Tim Seifert hitting 6 sixes and 7 fours in his 84 run knock.

Opener Colin Munro and skipper Kane Williamson both scored 34 runs, while Daryl Mitchell scored 8 runs before Dinesh Karthik took an amazing catch at the boundary to dismiss the batsman.

Ross Taylor made 23 runs off 14 balls while Colin de Grandhomme couldn’t contribute much with the bat. But Scott Kuggeleijn took the matter in his own hands and smashed 20 runs off 7 balls with 1 six and 3 fours.

For India Hardik Pandya was the most expensive bowler among the lot but took 2 wickets to end his spell. Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Krunal Pandya and Yuzvendra Chahal all took 1 wicket each.
Early in the day, stand-in captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first.