India lose 20-20
After the success against Australia , India came to New Zealand as favourites.Well their tour to New Zealand didn’t get off to the brightest of starts. New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori won the toss and put the Indians to bat on a pitch which offered something for the bowlers in the initial overs.
Their move to send Indians to bat proved to be costly in the initial overs as Sehwag got off to a brisk start smashing 3 sixes in first over. Just when you thought India were gaining momentum they lost Gautam Gambhir to a irresponsible shot. The shot which was not needed at that stage as the two openers had got 7 runs of the first 4 balls. O’Brien provided the much needed break through by getting rid of Gambhir. Then on the other end Sehwag was going great guns but he too perished for getting over ambitious. Well wickets kept tumbling after Sehwag’s dismissal.Yuvraj, Dhoni and Sharma fell rather quickly. Suddenly Indian team lost momentum. But then came the Pathan brothers. A lot was expected from them as they had guided India to emphatic win against Sri Lanka.
Yusuf was going great guns by hitting Nathan McCullum for 3 successive sixes but got out perishing trying to go for the fourth one and the catch was taken well by Oram.Irfan to followed soon. Suddenly Raina had ran out of partners as wickets kept tumbling at the other end.But Raina had a good partner in Harbhajan who gave him good support and provided India the much needed impetus in the final 5 overs which which guided India to total of 162 which they thought it was enough considering they were in a precarious position at one stage.
Then came New Zealand’s turn to bat.They got off to a bad start losing Jesse Ryder. But McCullum and Guptill put on a very good partnership to make sure they were in the hunt and they were with the run rate. Martin Guptill too played well before he fell to Harbhajan. One moment you thought India were gaining momentum but Taylor came and he too attacked the Indian bowlers.
Khan provided the much needed break through by removing the dangerous Taylor. Just when you thought India were in the game, here came Oram. He took the attack to the bowlers and he along with McCullum guided New Zealand to a good victory.
Plenty of lessons have to be learned by the Indian team if they have to come back .Thet have to plan and play according to the situation and not go bang bang right from the first ball. Dhoni claimed that their players played too many shots too early. Well lets hope India comes up with a better plan and does well in the next 20- 20 match. Hope we have a good Twenty Twenty match at the Westpac Stadium on Thursday.
Tags: India, New Zealand