Men in Blue rode on an explosive batting display by Suryakumar Yadav and disciplined bowling in the second innings to thrash hosts New Zealand by 65 runs in the second T20I of the three-match series on Sunday.
Deepak Hooda was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets. However, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took two crucial wickets in the match. The leggie removed aggressive Glenn Phillips and James Neesham in his spell. Chahal got help from wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant which proved very vital to get Phillips’ wicket.
Pant suggested Chahal to bowl a bit slower in the air. In the very next ball Phillips got clean bowled by the tweaker. Even the TV commentators could not stop themselves from praising Pant for his excellent game-reading skills.
The incident reminded fans about captain cool MS Dhoni. MS had a very good cricketing acumen and he used to guide bowlers behind the stumps about specific line, length and variations to particular batsmen.
Notably, team India’s huge victory to go 1-0 up in the three-match series was set up by top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav who scored an explosive 111 from just 51 balls.