Twitter Reactions: New Zealand thump India by 80 runs to take the early honours in the T20I series

India continues to wait to register their first T20 International victory in New Zealand. They went down against the Kiwis in the first of the three-match T20I series in Wellington by 80 runs. The 220-run chase was too much for the visitors as they miscalculated it completely and ended up well short of the target in the end. MS Dhoni spent some time at the crease but one could only attribute it to the match-practice for the veteran as the contest in the game had ended long before.

The Kiwis were invited to bat first and they got off to a blistering start courtesy of Tim Seifert and Colin Munro. Both of them hit the straps almost immediately and added 86 runs for the first wicket. Seifert especially was on song on the day as he ripped apart the Indian bowlers. Munro was dismissed on 34 while Seifert kept going to smash 84 runs off 43 deliveries.

Though wickets fell quickly in the second half of the innings, the damage had already done and a few hits from the lower-middle order helped New Zealand go past the 200-run mark. They eventually posted 219 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs.

Horrendous run-chase

India were never in the run-chase. The first over included five dot balls with Tim Southee swinging the ball. Shikhar Dhawan smashed a few delightful sixes but the wickets kept on falling in a hurry. The pressure got to the batsmen with the ever-increasing required run-rate. At the 10-over mark, the Indian win was out of the question. India stumbled to 77/6 in the 11th over and one of the heaviest defeats for the team was possible then.

But Krunal Pandya and MS Dhoni’s half-century partnership made sure that the embarrassing record stayed away from the Men in Blue on the day when they didn’t turn up literally. Dhoni was the top-scorer in the innings with 39 runs to his name as New Zealand skittled India for 139 runs in the last over of the innings. They have taken the 1-0 lead in the three-match series and the tourists will have to win the next game to stay alive in the series.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the game:

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