New Zealand suffered a stunning collapse in the second T20I and eventually ended up with a below-par score of 160 bowled out in 19.4 overs against India as the Indian pacers took 9 of the 10 wickets, with one run-out.
In fact, it was two seamers – Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj – who did almost all the damage from India’s point of view as each of the two snapped up 4 wickets each.
Arshdeep and Siraj create a new record in T20Is for India
This was the first instance in the history of Indian cricket that two Indian bowlers have taken 4 wickets each in a T20I innings.
Stand-in Kiwi skipper Tim Southee won the toss and elected to bat first in Napier. Their innings started with the dismissal of Finn Allen in the second over, trapped lbw by an inswinger by Arshdeep. Siraj ended the powerplay with the wicket of Mark Chapman, top-edging a length ball into the body.
Glenn Phillips and Devon Conway then led the New Zealand fightback; the former was the aggressor while the latter anchored from his end. The pair forged a terrific partnership of 86 runs from 63 balls with Phillips blasting 54 runs off 33 balls. His dismissal, caught at fine leg via a mishit pull to a short ball from Siraj, spurned Indian bowlers on and New Zealand sustained a collapse.
Arshdeep returned to dismiss Conway (59 off 49) with a slower ball and then the hosts got stuck on this surface that had something for the bowlers. The wickets then fell in a flurry. Neesham and Santner both failed with their across-the-line hits to Siraj’s short stuff; in the 19th over then Arshdeep got Daryl Mitchell and Ish Sodhi on consecutive deliveries before Harshal Patel cleaned up Tim Southee. In between, Siraj also affected the run-out of Milne with a direct hit.
New Zealand collapsed from 130/2 to 160 all out. Siraj finished with figures of 4/17 and Arshdeep with 4/37.
