India went from bad to worse as another insipid batting display saw it suffer a humiliating defeat against New Zealand in its ICC T20 World Cup match at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
After the Men in Blue finished with a sub-par total — 110 for seven — the Black Caps eased to an eight-wicket win with 33 balls to spare.
The second loss in as many games, after the 10-wicket mauling by Pakistan the previous Sunday, put the team’s chances of making it to the semifinal in jeopardy.
Accurate
While the Kiwi bowlers were extremely accurate, the Indian batters were all at sea, both against the three-pronged pace attack of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Adam Milne and the spin duo of left-armer Mitchell Santner and leggie Ish Sodhi, celebrating his 29th birthday.
Even after tweaking the batting order — Ishan Kishan, who replaced the injured Suryakumar Yadav (back spasm), opened with K.L. Rahul — which pushed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to No. 3 and 4, India couldn’t get going after being asked to bat.
Failing to pierce the gaps, the top-order batters attempted to clear the ropes and found the fielders in the deep almost every time.
Power(less)play
It was 35 for two in the PowerPlay and the nine-over passage in the middle saw the team add just 38 for the loss of three wickets.
That the Indians couldn’t score a boundary for 71 balls — from the sixth over till the 17th — reflected the dominance of the Kiwi bowlers. Kohli’s men reached the three-figure mark, thanks to Ravindra Jadeja’s cameo.
New Zealand and opener Daryl Mitchell, sensing the opportunity to improve the Net Run Rate, went after the Indian bowlers. Mitchell’s aggressive knock and some strange captaincy by Kohli — there was no effort to pressurise the batters into making mistakes — meant that the chasing team was in cruise control.
While Jasprit Bumrah was the lone wicket-taker, picking up both scalps, Hardik Pandya bowled a couple of overs. Kane Williamson and Devon Conway steered the Kiwis home, the captain’s nudge to square-leg off Shardul Thakur ending India’s agony.
