The Indian National Cricket Team yet again displayed solid batsmanship in New Zealand to stay in a comfortable position at the end of the first innings in the 3rd T20I of the series. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli displayed their class in the middle to help India post 179 on the board.
Getting into the details, initially, it was Kane Williamson, who won the toss, asked the visitors to bat first. Though Tim Southee started innings on a positive note, it was Rohit Sharma, who completely changed the complexion of the innings. He took New Zealand bowlers to the cleaners to set a perfect platform for the big score.
He smashed Bennett to 26 runs in an over, which also saw him finishing his half-century. Then came a couple of economical overs from Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner, which controlled the run rate of India. Later, Kane Williamson brought Colin de Grandhomme into the action, who removed the dangerous KL Rahul to give a breakthrough to New Zealand.
Then came Shivam Dube into the middle ahead of Virat Kohli. He failed to make things fall in place, which led to pressure on Rohit Sharma. The opening batsman, who looked in ominous touch for a while, failed to read knuckle delivery of Bennett to walk back to the pavilion. In the same over, Shivam Dube also walked back to bring New Zealand back into the game.
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However, Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer smashed a few boundaries in the middle overs to balance the innings for India. Just when things looked in control for India, Shreyas Iyer was dismissed by Santner while Virat Kohli failed to give a powerful finish to the innings. In the end, all they managed was 179 on the board with the help of Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja.
For New Zealand, Bennett picked 2 wickets but was expensive. Other than him, Colin de Grandhomme and Mitchell Santner picked one wicket each to cause damage to India.
Here are a few tweets:
Top Knock?
Form is temporary class is permanent.#RohitSharma #Hitman #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/thDvJJ1Efd— Rohitian 4Ever (@Rohitian_4Ever) January 29, 2020
#INDvsNZ
This is Virat level of captaincy. Sent dube ahead of him, increased the pressure on #RohitSharma , now dube got out.— Mega Fan ikkada (@HelloMegaFans) January 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/andrews_3011/status/1222422244892168192
https://twitter.com/Srinicj1/status/1222429724569292803
What a blistering 50* from Rohit Sharma.
— #BlackLivesMatter. ✊? (@nxawe_jnr) January 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/GappistanRadio/status/1222428518811885568
Modelling still easier than batting for Dube.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) January 29, 2020
Standing in his crease & Virat Kohli hits a long Six over extra-covers. Beautiful shot.
One more reminder…You don't always need power to hit huge 6.#INDvsNZ #NZvIND— Sumit Sundriyal ?? (@SumitSun14) January 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/prollytalha/status/1222431091451101184
Kohli to batting order ?? #NZvIND #NZvsIND pic.twitter.com/wXqav15oFP
— Jai Rohit Sharma ?? (@madam_jadeja) January 29, 2020
#India 179-5, 20 ovs
Cool finish by Pandey and Jadeja#RohitSharma – 65(40)?, the standout performer. He smashed 27 runs in one over by Bennett.
The #Hitman also crosses 10000 international runs as an opener ?#INDvsNZ 3rd T20I
— Kaushik LM (@LMKMovieManiac) January 29, 2020
Fir vohi chutiyap ??
Kitne baar bataye 3 no. pe kohli ko hi bhejo….
Dube allrounder hai vo 6 down pe apne jagah perfect hai…
Promote karna hai toh Iyer ya Pandey ko karo unke dono ke paas experience hai @BCCI #nzvsind— Prathamesh #YODHA (@its_Prathamesh) January 29, 2020
Disappointed to see the handling of @im_manishpandey by this Indian team. When you can promote Shivam Dube , why can't you promote Pandey before Iyer or even before Kohli ? He is in superb form and yet not given chances !
— Karan Kukreja (@kukki1411) January 29, 2020
Sending dube at no. 3 is the reason India score 10-20 run less. #NZvInd
— संदीप SanDeep (@SanDiip_) January 29, 2020
Unfair criticism! He is giving chances to someone like Dube to showcase his batting ability,at his own cost. He is the most selfless captain India ever had.
— Pranit Bhandula (@pranitbhandula) January 29, 2020
