After the first match of the three-match T20I series between New Zealand and India was washed out, both teams came to play the second T20I at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. And this time the rain did not ruin the fun and the fans got to watch a 40-over game.
After winning the toss, home captain Kane Williamson invited the Indian team to bat first. India started their innings with a new opening pair in Ishan Kishan and Rishabh Pant. Kishan started the innings by hitting some impressive strokes and boundaries but Pant had his struggles against the Kiwi pacers. Pant tried to send the ball out of the park but eventually ended up throwing his wicket away to Lockie Ferguson to depart for only 6 runs in 13 balls.
But the fans got what they came for as Suryakumar Yadav came to bat number 3 and did not take too much time to settle. He dealt with every bowler with relative ease and sent them out of the boundary line. The 32-year-old played a sensational knock of 111 runs off just 51 balls which included seven huge sixes and 11 fours at a fiery strike rate of 217.65. His knock helped India reach a massive total of 191 runs.
‘It was frustrating’ – Williamson on the loss
After facing a comprehensive defeat, Williamson came to talk about the match and praised the batting brilliance of Yadav. He also talked about the shots played by Surya and expressed that he had never seen these kinds of shots in his life. “Surya’s inning was out of this world. One of the best knocks I’ve ever seen. Some of those shots, I’ve never seen before. They were outstanding,” Williamson said after the match.
The New Zealand skipper also talked about how they failed with the bat and how Indian pacers were able to pick early wickets. The rest of the work was done by the spinning department as Deepak Hooda bagged 4 wickets, Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 wickets, and Washington Sundar got the key wicket of Devon Conway.
“It was frustrating. Again, I’ll say about Suryakumar, his innings was the difference. It did swing a bit (during New Zealand’s chase) and India did well to get some swing,” Williamson added.
