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The two teams will now face off in a three match T20I series in India. While India will be itching to bounce back to winning ways after being knocked out of the tournament in the Super 12 stage itself, the Kiwis will still be hurting from yet another loss in an ICC tournament final.
The Black Caps have a better record overall in T20I encounters between the two teams.
Out of the 18 T20Is played between the two sides, India have won 8 matches, while the Kiwis have won 10. Two matches out of those 18 contested were tied games which India went on to win by one-over eliminators (Super Over).
Over the years, the two teams have played multiple memorable T20 matches.
Here we look at the five most memorable T20I encounters between India and New Zealand over the years:
2020 – Hamilton, 3rd T20I: Match tied, India won in Super Over
India were already up 2-0 in the five-match series. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and asked India to bat first in the 3rd T20I in Hamilton on January 29, 2020. Indian opener Rohit Sharma top scored with a 40-ball 65. Captain Virat Kohli and KL Rahul chipped in with 38 and 27 respectively to take India to a competitive 179/5.
For the Kiwis, Williamson led from the front with a 48-ball 95 aided with 6 sixes and 8 fours, but his dismissal in the last over derailed the Kiwi run chase. New Zealand needed 9 runs off the last over and Ross Taylor smashed the first ball for a six but Mohammed Shami first dismissed Williamson off the third ball and with one run needed off the last ball, Taylor edged the ball onto his stumps. The scores were tied and the match went into a Super Over.
Martin Guptill and Williamson came out to bat for the Kiwis in the Super Over with Jasprit Bumrah being given the ball. Two singles were conceded off the first two deliveries. Williamson then dispatched the third delivery for a six and the next was taken for a four. After a bye on the fifth ball, Guptill hit a boundary off the last ball to take the Kiwi total to 17.
Indian openers Rohit and Rahul walked out to chase the target, with Tim Southee entrusted with the bowling duties. Rohit took 3 runs off the first 2 balls. Rahul smacked the third delivery for four and gave Rohit the strike by taking a single off the fourth ball. With 10 runs needed off the last two balls, Rohit, in his unflappable style, hit the last two deliveries over long-on and long-off boundaries for sixes to win the match as India took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
(Getty Images)
2020 – Wellington, 4th T20I: Match tied, India won in Super Over
The next match of the series was in Wellington on January 31, 2020 and Virat Kohli again lost the toss and India were put into bat by stand-in New Zealand captain Tim Southee. Kane Williamson missed the game due to a left shoulder injury. With the series already in the bag, India chose to rest Rohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, bringing in Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini.
Opener KL Rahul hit 39, but it was Manish Pandey, batting at No. 6 who top scored with an unbeaten 36-ball 50, as the Indian top order simply caved in. Ish Sodhi took 3/26 as India ended up with 165/8.
Kiwi opener Colin Munro (64) and No. 3 batsman Tim Seifert (57) looked set to overhaul the Indian target till both were run out in the 12th and 20th over respectively. With 7 runs needed off the last over, the Kiwis simply crumbled in the over bowled by Shardul Thakur. Shardul dismissed Ross Taylor and Daryl Mitchell and Seifert and Mitchell Santner were run out as the match went into another Super Over.
Seifert and Munro walked out to face Bumrah in the Super Over. Seifert smashed 8 runs off the first 3 balls before falling to Bumrah. Munro hit the fifth ball for a boundary and took a single off the last ball. New Zealand reached 13.
Virat Kohli and KL Rahul walked out to chase down the 14-run target. Rahul hit the first ball from Southee for a six and the second for a four before getting dismissed. With 4 to get off 3 balls, Kohli took 2 runs off the fourth delivery and hit a boundary off the fifth ball as India registered their second successive victory in a Super Over in the series. India eventually went on to win the series 5-0. This was the first time a team had won a T20I bilateral series 5-0.
(Getty Images)
2012 – Chennai, 2nd T20I: New Zealand won by 1 run
With the first T20I of the 2012 series in Visakhapatnam abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain, the second T20I in Chennai on September 11, 2012, became a one-off decider. India captain MS Dhoni won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first.
Batting at No. 3, Brendon McCullum smashed 3 sixes and 11 fours enroute his 55-ball 91 to take New Zealand to 167/5. Irfan Pathan took 3/31.
Opener Virat Kohli slammed a 41-ball 70 before falling to James Franklin. Yuvraj Singh, making a comeback after his battle with cancer, hit a 26-ball 34. With 13 needed off the last over, Franklin conceded a leg bye off the first ball before being hit for a four by Dhoni off the second. After bowling a wide and giving away a single to Dhoni, Franklin clean bowled Yuvraj off a slower delivery to end his valiant effort. Next man in Rohit Sharma could hit the next two balls for two runs each as India lost by just one run, with Dhoni left stranded on an unbeaten 22.
(AP photo)
2019 – Hamilton, 3rd T20I: New Zealand won by 4 runs
With the 2019 series locked at 1-1, the decider turned out to be a run-fest in Hamilton on February 10, 2019. India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first.
Tim Seifert (43) and Colin Munro (72) put up an 80-run opening stand before both fell to Kuldeep Yadav. The rest of the Kiwi batsmen made full use of the strong start and kept smashing from the word go to power the team’s total to a huge 212/4.
India lost Shikhar Dhawan (5) early, but Rohit (38) and Vijay Shankar (43), who was promoted up the order, put on 75 runs for the second wicket to lead the Indian run chase. But the dismissals of Rishabh Pant, Rohit, Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni in four consecutive overs again put the Kiwis on top. It boiled down to India needing 16 runs off the last over. Dinesh Karthik (33*) and Krunal Pandya (26*) tried their best, but India still fell short by 4 runs and New Zealand won the 3-match series 2-1.
(Photo credit: AFP/Getty)
2017 – Thiruvananthapuram, 3rd T20I: India won by 6 runs
A series-decider shortened by rain to eight overs a side in Thiruvananthapuram on November 7, 2017. New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and asked India to bat first. Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi took 2 wickets each in their 2 overs each as India managed 67/5 in their 8 overs. Manish Pandey top scored for India with a 17-run knock.
Jasprit Bumrah took 2 wickets in his 2-over spell but conceded 10 runs in the penultimate over of the Kiwi run chase. Hardik Pandya was entrusted with the task of defending 19 runs off the last over and though Colin de Grandhomme hit a six off the third ball, the Kiwis fell short by 6 runs as India won the 3-match series 2-1.
(Photo credit: BCCI)
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