India were defeated by a considerable margin of 21 runs in the first T20I by New Zealand, played on Friday in Ranchi. Suryakumar Yadav and Washington Sundar’s fightback in the chase of 177 wasn’t enough for India to come close to the target.
On the back of half-centuries from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell followed by terrific spin bowling from the duo of captain Mitchell Santner and Michael Bracewell, the kiwis took a 1-0 lead in the 3-T20I series.
India are on an almost-four-year unbeaten streak at home. The last series India lost at home was back in March 2019.
New Zealand have now come close to breaking India’s home unbeaten streak.
India had been enjoying a dominating home season 2023 so far with ODI and T20I series wins over Sri Lanka followed by a whitewash over New Zealand, but this loss will bring the Men In Blue down to the ground reality again.
After the loss, Hardik Pandya admitted that the behavior of the pitch took everyone by surprise. At the toss, Pandya had said it looked a good track to bat on and elected to bowl first. However, from the third over of the match, the pitch showed its true colors: helping spinners with turn and bounce.
India bowled decently to have New Zealand 149/6 in 19 overs. However, Arshdeep Singh bowled a terrible 20th over: he was smoked for 3 sixes (which included a no-ball) and a four by Mitchell in the 27-run last over, taking New Zealand’s total to 176.
India lost their top 3 for just 15 runs and a loss was always going to be the likely result from thereon, despite the knocks from Suryakumar and Sundar.
“I don’t think no no one even thought that this wicket would play like that,” Hardik told Star Sports at the post-match presentation. “Both teams kind of got surprised, but think they played better cricket on this [pitch], and that’s the reason the result ended like that.
Well, the fans were too left shocked from India’s performance, but that didn’t deter them from making some hilarious memes.
Here are some of the best memes on Twitter during India’s loss to New Zealand in 1st T20I:
