India survive scare to beat NZ in first T20I

JAIPUR: India gave Rohit Sharma a winning start as captain by securing a five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first T20 international despite a late wobble in Jaipur on Wednesday.

The hosts were cruising towards a target of 165 as Rohit struck a quickfire 48 and Suryakumar Yadav made 62.

India, from needing 23 from the final four overs with eight wickets in hand, stuttered badly to leave them still requiring 10 off the last over, bowled by part-time seamer Daryl Mitchell.

But Rishabh Pant struck the winning boundary over mid-off with two balls to spare to put India 1-0 ahead in the three-match series.

It was an encouraging start to life as skipper for Rohit, who took over from Virat Kohli in the shortest format following India´s shock Super 12 exit at the T20 World Cup.

New Zealand, without usual captain Kane Williamson, were playing just three days after their World Cup final loss to Australia in Dubai.

Score Board

India won toss

New Zealand

M. Guptill c Iyer b Chahar 70

D. Mitchell b Kumar 0

M. Chapman b Ashwin 63

G. Phillips lbw b Ashwin 0

T. Seifert c Yadav b Kumar 12

R. Ravindra b Siraj 7

M. Santner not out 4

T. Southee not out 0

Extras: (b2, lb3, w3) 8

Total: (for 6 wkts; 20 overs) 164

Did not bat: Todd Astle, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

Fall: 1-1 (Mitchell), 2-110 (Chapman), 3-110 (Phillips), 4-150 (Guptill), 5-153 (Seifert), 6-162 (Ravindra)

Bowling: Kumar 4-0-24-2 (1w), Chahar 4-0-42-1, Siraj 4-0-39-1 (1w), Ashwin 4-0-23-2, Patel 4-0-31-0 (1w)

India

K.L. Rahul c Chapman b Santner 15

R. Sharma c Ravindra b Boult 48

S. Yadav b Boult 62

R. Pant not out 17

S. Iyer c Boult b Southee 5

V. Iyer c Ravindra b Mitchell 4

A. Patel not out 1

Extras: (lb7, w7) 14

Total: (for 5 wkts; 19.4 overs) 166

Did not bat: Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Siraj

Fall: 1-50 (Rahul), 2-109 (Sharma), 3-144 (Yadav), 4-155 (S. Iyer), 5-160 (V. Iyer)

Bowling: Southee 4-0-40-1 (1w), Boult 4-0-31-2 (1w), Ferguson 4-0-24-0 (2w), Santner 4-0-19-1, Astle 3-0-34-0 (1w), Mitchell 0.4-0-11-1 (2w)

Result: India won by five wickets

Man of the Match: S Yadav (IND)

Umpires: KN Anantha Padmanabhan (IND), Virender Sharma (IND)