New Zealand vs India 2020: Virat Kohli Hails Team's Performance In First T20I

Before the start of the series, India skipper Virat Kohli had spoken about the busy cricket schedule nowadays as he and his teammates did not get enough time to recover for the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. However, it made little difference as India thrashed the Black Caps by six wickets in the high-scoring clash in Auckland.

New Zealand must have been fancying their chances of starting the series with a win after posting a mammoth total of 203 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs. Colin Munro and Martin Guptill set the ton for the big total by adding 80 runs for the first wicket before Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor joined the party too. Munro, Williamson and Taylor went on to score fifties to take the hosts to the big total.

Also Read: New Zealand vs India 2020: Twitter On Fire As Visitors Chase Down 204

A 6 wicket win for India ends a thrilling night at @edenparknz.
Same time, same place on Sunday!#NZvIND #CricketNation pic.twitter.com/dx8QCyGSlh

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 24, 2020

But it turned out to be too less in the end as India chased down the big total with an over to spare. After losing Rohit Sharma cheaply, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli put India on track by adding 99 runs for the second wicket. The two departed in quick succession but Shreyas Iyer slammed a 26-ball fifty to take India over the line. He was well supported by Manish Pandey as the two shared an unbeaten 64-run stand.

Speaking after the game, Virat Kohli expressed his delight over the way his team performed. He also said that the team was not talking about the jetlag and was just focussed on performing.

“We enjoyed this. Landing two days before and playing a game like this, it was fantastic. The crowd was right behind us. We never spoke of the jetlag in the team. We just focused on what we needed to do to win. We were looking forward to doing well. We have done well in T20Is in the last one year. You can’t be harsh on anyone on this sort of a pitch. I thought 230 was on at one point, but we pulled it back nicely,” said Virat Kohli.