Kiwis romp home as India batters fail to fire in Vizag T20I

New Zealand beat India by 50 runs at Vizag to make it 1-3 in the five-match T20I series

Visakhapatnam: The Kiwis got their act together, finally.

With a brilliant all-round performance, the New Zealanders won the fourth T-20 international against India by 50 runs to make it 1-3 in the five-match series at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Wednesday night.

Chasing 216, the Indian batting was in disarray from the first ball when Abhishek Sharma (0) stepped out only to slash straight to the fielder in the deep off pacer Matt Henry. Soon, captain Suryakumar Yadav (8) saw pacer Jacob Duffy take a low return catch to make it 9/2 in two overs.

Opener Sanju Samson’s (24) poor run continued, bowled by one that straightened from left-arm spinner and Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner, who soon also dismissed Hardik Pandya (2) cheaply.

Rinku Singh, who took four catches, looked good at No.4 (39, 30b, 3×4, 2×6) before missing a sweep shot off pacer Zak Foulkes to be lbw to make it 82/5 in 10.3 overs.

It was a disciplined bowling performance, which subdued the dew factor too.

There were fireworks from Shivam Dube (61, 23b, 2×4 7×6), raising hopes of an improbable win. In the 12th over, leggie Ish Sodhi conceded 29 runs with Dube on rampage, hitting two fours and three sixes.

Just when he threatened to take the game away, Dube was a victim of a freak run-out with the ball deflecting off the bowler Henry’s hands of a backdrive from Harshit Rana onto the stumps (145/6)in 15 overs.

Importantly, Kiwis ensured that things were in control later on and wrapped up the match eventually to serve a reminder that this Indian batting line-up can also be brittle at times.

Earlier, the New Zealanders, put in to bat, were off to a blazing start with Devon Conway (44, 23b, 4×4, 3×6) and Tim Seifert putting on 100 runs in just 8.2 overs before the former holed out in the deep trying for an inside-out shot over covers off left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav.

Seifert lived dangerously early but played some extravagant strokes later on. He hit three fours in one over off left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh, lofted Harshit Rana over long-on and didn’t spare even Jasprit Bumrah, hitting him straight over the fence.

Arshdeep struck the big blow in the 13th over, deceiving the free-stroking Seifert (62, 36b, 7×4, 3×6) with a slower one and saw the batter hit straight to long-off to provide huge relief to the Indian camp (136/3).

In the middle-overs, the Kiwis lost the momentum, and it was again the belligerence of in-form Darryl Mitchell (39 n.o., 18b, 2×4, 3×6) which helped New Zealand eventually post a challenging 215 for seven in 20 overs.

The scores: New Zealand 215/7 in 20 overs (Devon Conway 44, Tim Seifert 62, Darryl Mitchell 39 n.o., Arshdeep 2/33, Kuldeep 2/39) bt India 165 in 18.4 overs ( Rinku Singh 39, Shivam Dube 61, Ish Sodi 2/46, Mitchell Santner 3/26).