India suffers the second consecutive defeat in the T20 World Cup with eight wickets from New Zealand following last week’s 10-wicket loss to Pakistan; Virat Kohli’s men will be eliminated if they lose to Afghanistan on Wednesday; New Zealand takes their first win as bowlers and star of Daryl Mitchell
Virat Kohli’s India have lost their first two matches in the T20 World Cup, by 10 and eight wickets respectively.
India’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup were hit when New Zealand inflicted an eight wicket hammering on Virat Kohli’s favorites ahead of the tournament in Dubai.
India suffered a 10-wicket loss to Pakistan in form a week ago and now have two disappointing results out of two after the Black Caps surpassed their small 110-7 total with 33 deliveries to spare.
The match was played on the same field that was used for England’s victory over Australia on Saturday and the match followed a similar pattern, with the inserted side working and the team chasing their goal.
New Zealand was not as destructive as England, who beat Australia with 50 balls in reserve, but Daryl Mitchell nailed 49 of 35 balls at the top of the order while playing the role of Jos Buttler for the victorious Black Caps.
India is four points behind second-placed Afghanistan and will be eliminated if it is defeated by Mohammad Nabi’s team at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday night.
Even victories in the remaining three matches (India also play the qualifiers Scotland and Namibia) may not be enough for a place in the semi-finals, as Kohli’s team relies on other results to continue their way into Group 2.
New Zealand, defeated by Pakistan in their first meeting, are toasting their first two points of the competition, a loot they hope to double when they face Scotland in Dubai in three days before the next matches against Namibia and Afghanistan.
Trent Boult (3-20), birthday boy Ish Sodhi (2-17) and Mitchell Santner (0-15) led the Kiwi bowling effort against India, for whom only KL Rahul (18 against 16) and Ravindra Jadeja ( 26 no off 19) scored a ball in more than one run.
Each of India’s top four – Rahul, Ishan Kishan (4), Kohli (9 of 17) and Rohit Sharma (14 of 14) – were caught on the edge, with Indian-born leg spinner Sodhi representing Kohli and Rohit.
Rohit, who was hitting No. 3 when Kishan started with Rahul after coming in for the injured Suryakumar Yadav (back spasm), had been knocked down on the long leg by the remembered sidekick Adam Milne at the Boult bowling alley.
Milne’s first over was then 15, but the quicker, called up to the New Zealand squad as a replacement for Lockie Ferguson, a victim of a calf injury, bounced back to finish at 1-30, which included Rishant Pant ( 12).
India rallied only 10 limits on their innings, none of them came out of the eight spin overs shared between Sodhi and Santner and only two hit Boult with a quick left arm, who joined his window of Kishan in the third by having Hardik Pandya (23 of 24) and Shardul Thakur (0) caught deep in the 19.
Martin Guptill (20 of 17) hit three fours for New Zealand up top and when caught off Jasprit Bumrah (2-19), Mitchell took up the mantle of limits scorer, racking up three sixes and four fours.
Captain Kane Williamson (33 against 31) played Mitchell’s second fiddle, but then hit two fours off Hardik in the 14 ‘over, one with a delicious arched shot over the wicketkeeper Pant, before cutting Thakur’s winning single on the 15th on a deflated afternoon. for India.
Trent boult – set the tone in the first over by conceding just one run, as he and Tim Southee, as England’s locksmiths against Australia on Saturday night, concentrated on reaching a good distance. If Kishan had caught in the deep square in his second over and had Rohit as well, if Milne hadn’t suffered from a severe case of butter fingers. Boult got Hardik and Thakur back on the penultimate lap and sent 13 point balls in total during a good night of work.
Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner – conceded a combined 32 runs from his 48 balls when India’s hitters were straitjacked. Sodhi bagged the wickets on the day he turned 29 years old, picking up Kohli’s at the start of the 11th with a broken leg that the India captain passed to Boult at length, but Santner was also powerfully effective with 11 point balls, two more than Sodhi did, so it deserves a lot of pat on the back as well.
Daryl Mitchell – Not one of the most glamorous names in New Zealand, but he dazzled in Dubai, taking Jadeja’s sixth with his left arm at 14 with a six and two fours, a feat he equaled in the ninth, launched by closer Thakur. Mitchell couldn’t stay to finish the job, caught deep in a slower ball from Bumrah to a fifty run, but he won’t be too upset.
Report England will almost secure a spot in the semi-final if they win Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Monday (1:30 PM, Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event).
Eoin Morgan’s team’s net race rate is stellar after beating the West Indies, Bangladesh and most recently Australia, and if they achieve four wins out of four, it will be extremely difficult for South Africa and Australia to overtake them in the Group. 1.
Indeed, success against Sri Lanka followed by South Africa’s loss to Bangladesh on Tuesday would guarantee England’s place in the quarterfinals.
New Zealand and India, as mentioned above, get back in action on Wednesday. The Black Caps face Scotland in Dubai (9.30am, Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event) before India meet Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in a match Kohli’s charges cannot afford to miss (1.30p. M., Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event).
Watch the T20 World Cup live on Sky from now until November 14.
