India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I Stats Review: Martin Guptill’s record, India’s new landmark and more stats

Finally, something to cheer for Team India as they defeat New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series. It wasn’t really a convincing win for the Men in Blue as they would have liked to close the game much earlier. Nevertheless, after such a horrendous run in the T20 World Cup 2021, India would take any win against the runners-up of the tournament.

Speaking of the game, India won the all-important toss and invited New Zealand to bat at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The Kiwis got off to a terrible start with in-form opener Daryl Mitchell falling for a golden duck. However, half-centuries from Mark Chapman and Martin Guptill took the Blackcaps to 164/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

The Men in Blue started off steadily with openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul putting yet another half-century stand. The latter was replaced by Suryakumar Yadav, who looked in full flow. He and Rohit added 59 runs for the second wicket as India’s win looked like a mere formality. However, the sudden fall of wickets spiced up the contest. The game went down to the wire but Rishabh Pant’s run-a-ball 17 helped India cross the line with two balls to spare.

Meanwhile, here are the important stats and numbers from India vs New Zealand 1st T20I:

21 – Martin Guptill now has 21 scores of 50 or more in T20Is, joint second-highest for any batter. While he shares the record with David Warner, Rohit Sharma (23) tops the list.

12 – KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma now has 12 partnerships of 50 or more in T20Is. Only Kevin O’Brien & Paul Stirling (13) are ahead of them on this list.

62 – Suryakumar Yadav recorded his highest score in T20 Internationals, 62.

50 – India became the first team to win 50 T20Is while chasing the target.

5 – Trent Boult became the fifth bowler to dismiss Rohit Sharma three or more times in T20Is.

2 – Tim Southee is now the second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is, extending his tally to 108 wickets. Shakib Al Hasan (117) tops the list.

9 – This was Rohit Sharma’s ninth win at home in 10 T20Is as captain.

9 – This was India’s ninth win in 18 T20Is against New Zealand. The Kiwis, before this match, were the only opponent against whom India had more defeats than wins in the shortest format.

109 – Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman recorded the highest partnership for any wicket for New Zealand against India in T20Is (109), surpassing 105 between Colin Munro and Guptill in Rajkot in 2017.