Both the captains – Hardik Pandya of India and Mitchell Santner of New Zealand – had said at the toss that dew will be a major factor in the game, and that was the driving factor in Pandya’s decision to bowl first in the first T20I in Ranchi.
In the first innings, however, it wasn’t dew, but the turn that the Ranchi pitch had to offer which became the talking point.
Off-spinner Washington Sundar was introduced in the third over of the match and straightaway had everyone raising their eyebrows with the turn and bounce he was able to extract from the surface. In his second over, still in the powerplay, Sundar took two wickets, including the dangerous Finn Allen, who scored 35 runs from 23 balls.
Glenn Phillips struggled for 17 runs in 22 balls. After that, though, the partnership of Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell took over, helping New Zealand reach the total of 176, which didn’t look possible at one stage when Phillips was struggling for timing and connection before he was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav.
New Zealand have reached more than a par score, difficult chase for India
Conway and Mitchell steadied the ship, seeing off the spinner cautiously. Spin was so much influential that even Deepak Hooda bowled two overs while Umran Malik bowled just one over and Shivam Mavi bowled 2 overs.
After Conway got out for a well-made 52(35), Mitchell teed off, helped by some dismal bowling and overstepping from Arshdeep. Arshdeep Singh leaked 27 runs in the last over of the innings, including being smoked for 3 sixes and a 4 by Mitchell. Arshdeep’s figures of 1/51 on this pitch look horrible.
India vs New Zealand 1st T20I playing XIs:
New Zealand (Playing XI): Finn Allen, Devon Conway(w), Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner(c), Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner
India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh
