Tilak Varma produced a finish of the highest quality as India chased down 181 with one ball to spare to beat New Zealand by four wickets in the second T20I at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Put in to bat after Shreyas Iyer won the toss, New Zealand stumbled to 41 for 3 inside the powerplay. Arshdeep Singh removed Tim Seifert, Bhuvneshwar Kumar deceived Daryl Mitchell with a knuckle ball, and Prince Yadav bowled Finn Allen with a full inswinger. At the halfway mark the hosts were 66 for 3 and going nowhere fast.
Glenn Phillips changed that. After a watchful start he tore into the bowling, racing from 16 off 18 balls to 70 off 43, while Bevon Jacobs played the supporting hand with 58 off 46. Their 116-run fourth-wicket stand rebuilt the innings, and although Arshdeep returned to dismiss Phillips — his 38th T20I wicket of the calendar year — late runs from Michael Bracewell took New Zealand to 180 for 5.
India’s chase began with a Matt Henry maiden, and when the wickets fell, they fell in a hurry. Mitchell Santner was superb, taking 4 for 21 to remove Shreyas Iyer, Abhishek Sharma, Axar Patel and Naman Dhir. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, batting at No. 3 in place of the injured Ishan Kishan, made only 4, and at 70 for 5 the chase looked lost. New Zealand, though, kept offering reprieves — four India batters were put down or reprieved during the chase, and Jacobs spilling Dhir at backward point proved the turning point.
Dhir’s 31 off 17 reignited the innings before Santner ended his stay with India 112 for 6, needing 69 off 31 balls. Tilak and Nitish Kumar Reddy then played the stand of the match, running feverishly between the wickets and taking 17 off the 18th over and 18 off the 19th. With New Zealand forced to bring an extra fielder inside the circle for a slow over-rate, Tilak drove Jacob Duffy through extra cover and scrambled back for two to reach his fifty, and Reddy collected the winning two with one ball to spare.
The unbeaten 69-run stand is India’s highest for the seventh wicket in a successful T20I chase. The win also carried a landmark: in India’s 300th T20I, it was their 200th win in the format — a first in history. Tilak, who also took two catches, was named Player of the Match.
Brief scores: New Zealand 180/5 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 70, Bevon Jacobs 58; Arshdeep Singh 2/33) lost to India 181/6 in 19.5 overs (Tilak Varma 51*, Naman Dhir 31, Nitish Kumar Reddy 26*; Mitchell Santner 4/21) by four wickets.
