What A Brilliant Advertisement For T20 Cricket, Says Kane Williamson After New Zealand Clinch Thriller In Hamilton

Kane Williamson led New Zealand to a series-winning win in the third and final T20I over India on Sunday. The Black Caps beat India by four runs in a thrilling game to win the three-match series 2-1.

Asked to bat first, the hosts piled up a mammoth 212 for 4 in the stipulated 20 overs. Colin Munro top-scored for the home side, blasting 72 off just 40 deliveries. For India, Kuldeep Yadav was the most successful bowler, picking up 2 for 26 off his four overs. Apart from him, none of the other Indian bowler could manage to concede less than 30. Krunal Pandya was the costliest bowler as he gave away 54 runs off his four overs.

Congratulations to New Zealand on winning the series 2-1 #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/x829ObFkBN

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 10, 2019

In reply, India came up with a good fight but eventually ended on 208 f0r 6.  The visitors lost wickets at crucial junctures which hurt their cause in the chase. The likes of Vijay Shankar (43), Hardik Pandya (21) and Rishabh Pant (28) got the starts but failed to convert them. In the end, Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik revived India’s hopes but could not score the required 16 runs off the final over bowled by Tim Southee.

Speaking after the game, a delighted Kane Williamson said that the thrilling game was a good advertisement before saying that he is looking forward to the upcoming series.

“What a brilliant advertisement for T20 cricket. It’s great to get across the line tonight. It was a fairly short series. The first performances was our best, and there were some learnings in the second one. For it to go to the last couple of balls, I knew India would come back strong, and it was a great series to be a part of. The nature of international cricket is such that we have to play Bangladesh at home now, so looking forward to that as well,” said Kane Williamson.