India v New Zealand, 2nd T20I - 5 Talking Points

After paying a hefty price for some poor fielding in the first ODI, New Zealand squared things up at Rajkot with a resounding win. This time around, Indian fielders replicated the same mistakes committed by the Kiwis in the previous game. The entire game seemed like an action replay of the first T20I, with Kiwis doing what India did, lashing on to the chances they received.

Batting first, Martin Guptill kicked off right from the 4th gear and though he collected few boundaries, he didn’t rotate the strike pretty well. Colin Munro, who received as many as four lives in the game, did full justice to the gifts presented by Kohli’s troops. He went on to become only the 4th cricketer to notch up 2 International T20 centuries.

Munro’s hundred propelled them to a total of 196 in their first innings and right from the outset India was in trouble. Quick wickets early in the innings didn’t allow them to settle in. Although Shreyas Iyer and Kohli did stitch a promising partnership, the former panicked a little too much and threw his wicket away. Dhoni and Kohli’s partnership never looked good enough to condense the mountain and eventually, they finished  40 runs short of the target.

Here are the five talking points of the day.

1. Fielders let India down

This ain’t the first occasion when fielding let a team down this catastrophically. India grassed some relatively easy catches in International standards and suffered the same fate as the Blackcaps in the first game at Delhi. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did manage to save a six, but he realized a little too late that a catch was possible.

Shreyas Iyer at the boundary rope had the easiest of all opportunities, but he let the ball slip through his fingers and over the fencing for a six. Yuzvendra Chahal too missed a catch chasing backward at covers, but he got there comfortably and the ball popped out of his hands. Incidentally, all these opportunities were presented by the same player, Colin Munro, who eventually scored a brilliant hundred.

2. Colin Munro – You beauty!

Yes, a lot of chances did go to ground, but Colin Munro did ride on his luck. Although many would feel he was a tad too lucky, some of the shots he played were pure joy to the eyes. Many people did speak of his ability to spank the long ball, but finally, here’s a great example. Munro remained not out on 109 off 58 balls, which included 7 fours and as many sixes.

3. Pandya ahead of Dhoni, seriously?

When Hardik Pandya came out to bat at number 3 in the first game, the situation was perfect for him so no debates there. But the situation here was different and considering Dhoni is no more the destructor he was, sending Pandya ahead of Dhoni in the 9th over of the game, in a situation where they needed a good partnership, was completely unfair on Dhoni’s part.

With due respect to Kohli, Dhoni, and Pandya, I don’t understand what the management is trying to prove here. It was a tailor-made situation for Dhoni to walk in and compensate for his poor performances, but once again, just the way he was sent at number 7 at one point in the ODI series against Australia, it’d hard to understand and digest these rotation tactics from the team.

4. An emotional debut for Mohammad Siraj

From the streets of Old City in Hyderabad, where he saw his father drive auto for a living, Mohammad Siraj reached the pinnacle by donning the Indian jersey for the first time. The lad got a tad emotional when the National anthem was being played, which clearly explains how much this means to him. He gave away 53 runs in his first game, but his raw pace and ability to bowl the blockholes consistently will take him a long way forward.

5. Spinners win it for the Williamson

Needless to mention specifically, but the spinners were the ones who won the game for Williamson. Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner bowled excellently in the death overs and this took the required rate to a level where it was impossible for the Indians to win. Kohli did play some majestic shots, but he eventually succumbed to the pressure exerted by these two gentlemen, who gave away just 48 runs in aggregate in the seven overs they bowled.