Times have been difficult for Indian cricket fans – first, we lost to Pakistan and then to New Zealand in the T20 World Cup. We didn’t even make it to the semifinal and in the end, the teams that beat us didn’t even lift the cup! So when India beat New Zealand in the first T20 match of the India-NZ series, at Jaipur, things seemed right once again in the cricketing universe.
The first T20 match was in Jaipur.
So what if the World Cup eluded us this time! We have the New Zealand tour of India now.
Never mind about the 2021 World Cup – there are many more to come says Wasim Jaffer consolingly.
Rohit Sharma has assumed the mantle of India's regular T20 captain and Virat Kohli has been rested for a while.
We are now in the era of Rahul Dravid as India’s head coach. People have a lot of hopes and expectations from The Wall.
This New Zealand player has this back story.
Indian fans wanted revenge for the loss at the hands of the Kiwis.
In recent times, India has been very unlucky with the toss.
So when the men in blue won the toss and decided to bowl, people had their first glimpse of hope.
NZ made 164 /6, a defendable total. Martin Guptill made 70 and Mark Chapman made 63.
Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets each while Deepak Chahar and Mohammed Siraj picked up one each.
Rohit Sharma made 48 off 36 and India won by 5 wickets with two balls to spare.
Suryakumar Yadav made 62 off 40 to help India get to the target and was declared man of the match.
Tim Southee would now be regrouping and planning the team strategy for the next match.
India won against New Zealand in the first T20 at Jaipur and many were delighted. Some, however, were still hurting.
India take on New Zealand in the second match at Ranchi and then on 21 November at Eden Gardens Kolkata; Rohit Sharma fans are really looking forward to it.
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