Raipur, Jan 23 : Ishan Kishan justified his national recall with a sensational 32-ball-76 while captain Suryakumar Yadav scored his first fifty after 23 innings as India decimated New Zealand by seven wickets for a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20 series here on Friday.
Ahead of the all important T20 World Cup, it all seems to be falling in place for India with Suryakumar (82 not out off 37) overcoming a prolonged lean patch and Kishan emerging as a destructive top-order enforcer. India were expected to chase 209 on a belter of a pitch but not with such ease after losing Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson by the second over of the chase.
Suryakumar and Shivam Dube (36 not out off 18) closed out the game in a canter as India gunned down the target in 15.2 overs.
Kishan, back in the side after a gap of more than two years, went berserk from ball one and ended with 11 fours and four sizzling sixes.
Kishan’s knock actually would keep Sanju Samson on tenterhooks after back-to-back failures as Tilak Varma, when fit would take that number three position. In such a situation, Kishan stacking up necessary numbers could spell doom for the Kerala man.
His special knock included a flurry of pick up shots, pulls and even a reverse sweep.
Such was the timing and impact of the innings that Kishan got a hug from his skipper after mistiming a slog sweep off Ish Sodhi’s bowling.
Suryakumar maintained the momentum generated by Kishan in the able company of Dube, who too collected his fair share of sixes.
At the start of the chase, Samson could not carry on for long despite being dropped at deep square leg on the second ball of the innings.
The pressure piled up on India when trump card Abhishek’s mistimed flick off Jacob Duffy to be holed out at deep square leg.
The counter attack from Kishan tilted the game in favour of India.
The captaincy of Mitchell Santner left a lot to be desired as his decision to give Zak Foulkes the third over after two tight overs by Henry and Duffy, left a lot to be desired.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav regained form with two timely strikes in the middle overs as India limited New Zealand to 208 for 6.
Rachin Ravindra (44 off 26) and skipper Mitchell Santner (47 not out off 27) took the attack to India in different phases of the game to ensure New Zealand got past 200-run mark.
Expecting heavy dew, skipper Suryakumar Yadav predictably opted to bowl with Harshit Rana and Kuldeep Yadav playing instead of injured Axar Patel and rested Jasprit Bumrah.
Devon Conway (19 off 9) and Tim Seifert (24 off 13), fresh off BBL, got the Black Caps off to a flying start before falling in quick succession. Conway, who has been caught in the slip cordon multiple times on the white ball tour thus far, went on the offensive in the first over against Arshdeep Singh despite being beaten by an outswinger on the very first ball of the match.
Conway dispatched the left-arm seamer for three crisp fours and a sliced six over backward point for an 18-run over.
Seifert smashed four boundaries off Arshdeep’s following over that also went for 18 runs. Harshit Rana was introduced in the fourth over and he struck off his second ball, dismissing Conway for the fourth time in as many innings including his dominance over the left-handers in the ODI series.
Rachin Ravindra (44 off 23) came in and played some spectacular strokes before getting out on a wide ball from Kuldeep.
However, the Indian wrist spinner’s first victim was the dangerous Glenn Phillips who could not connect the googly and was caught at backward point.
At 111/3 in 10 overs on a true surface, New Zealand looked on course for a total well over 200 but India were able to pull things back. Shivam Dube, the seventh bowling option introduced in the 12th over, got rid of the in-form Daryl Mitchell off a slower ball to build pressure on the opposition.
Santer ensued his team got 57 runs off the last five overs with a flurry of boundaries and a straight six off Hardik Pandya.
