Eye-opener in India’s opener

New Zealand players celebrate the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in their World T20 opening game at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday. The Kiwis won by 47 runs. (Photo: AFP)

Nagpur:

India crashed to a humiliating 47-run defeat in their Group 2 Super 10 opener against New Zealand at the VCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

Chasing what seemed a below-par 127 runs to win, India were done in by the Kiwis’s three-pronged spin attack. Between them, Nathan McCullum (off-spin), Mitchell Santner (left-arm orthodox) and Ish Sodhi (leg-spin) picked up nine wickets as India collapsed to 79 all out in 18.1 overs.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni stood amidst the ruins with a run-a-ball 30, as his star-studded batting lineup disintegrated in the face of the disciplined New Zealand bowling.

Earlier, electing to bat, the Kiwis excluded pacers Tim Southee and Trent Boult and went in with all three spinners.

Opener Martin Guptill struck the first ball for a six off R. Ashwin.

The spinner however brought the 44,900 partisan Indian fans at the Jamtha to their feet on the very next ball when he trapped Guptill lbw.

Colin Munro had to settle for a paltry seven as Ashish Nehra spoiled his party in the next over. Skipper Williamson (8) too failed as he was stumped by Dhoni in the seventh over off Suresh Raina.

The Indians were spot on, giving just 55 runs in the initial 10 overs.

Raina was in action again and this time was instrumental in a brilliant piece of work to send the dangerous Ross Taylor (10) packing. The Gujarat Lions skipper while bowling, dived and back handed the ball to the stumps leaving Taylor short of his crease.

Corey Anderson (33) was the only one who offered some sort of resistance to the bowlers.

Score Board New Zealand: M. Guptill lbw b Ashwin 6, K. Williamson st Dhoni b Raina 8, C. Munro c Pandya b Nehra 7, C. Anderson b Bumrah 34, R. Taylor (run out) 10, M. Santner c Dhoni b Jadeja 18, G. Elliott (run out) 9, L. Ronchi (not out) 21, N. McCullum (not out) 0. Extras (b4, lb3, w6) 13. Total (for 7 wkts. in 20 overs) 126.

FoW: 1-6, 2-13, 3-35, 4-61, 5-89, 6-98, 7-114.

Bowling: Ashwin 4-0-32-1, Nehra 3-0-21-1, Bumrah 4-0-15-1, Raina 4-0-15-1, Jadeja 4-0-26-1 (4w), Pandya 1-0-10-0 (1w).

India: Rohit Sharma st Ronchi b Santner 5, Shikhar Dhawan lbw b McCullum 1, Virat Kohli c Ronchi b Sodhi 23, Suresh Raina c Guptill b Santner 1, Yuvraj Singh c & b McCullum 4, M.S. Dhoni c McCullum b Santner 30, Hardik Pandya lbw b Santner 1, Ravinder Jadeja c & b Sodhi 0, R. Ashwin st Ronchi b Sodhi 10, A. Nehra b Milne 0, J. Bumrah (not out) 0. Extras: (w 3, nb 1) 4.Total: (in 18.1 overs) 79

FoW: 1-5, 2-10, 3-12, 4-26, 5-39, 6-42, 7-43, 8-73, 9-79, 10-79

Bowling: McCullum 3-0-15-2, Anderson 3-0-18-0, Santner 4-0-11-4, Elliott 2-0-9-0 (1w), Milne 2.1-0-8-1 (1nb), Sodhi 4-0-18-3 (2w)