Propelled by a 29-ball 58 by Shreyas Iyer, visitors India romped home to victory with an over to spare.
Bengaluru: India kickstarted their tour of New Zealand with a phenomenal victory against the Black Caps, propelled by a blitzkrieg of 29-ball 58 by the talented Shreyas Iyer, at Auckland.
After being put into bat by Virat Kohli, hosts went ballistic, with opener C Munro scoring a 42-ball 59 and skipper Williamson scoring a 26-ball 51.
Ross Taylor too pitched in with a fabulous contribution of 27-ball 54.
With massive contributions from these batsmen, NZ put up a challenging 203/5 in the allotted 20 overs.
For India, Bumrah, Thakur, Chahal, Dube and Jadeja took one wicket apiece.
Starting the chase, India were in for a pretty early shock as in-form batsman Rohit Sharma departed at just 16 runs on the board.
But opener KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli put on an 80-run partnership in just 47 balls. New Zealand struggled to control them as the two were disdainful in plundering sever fours and four sixes between them.
As they stitched a robust partnership, Rahul earned his half-century off just 23 balls but Kohli fell short of his landmark by just five runs.
After Kohli fell to a stunner by Martin Guptill, it was Shreyas Iyer at work as he emphatically proved that he has the wherewithal to be a match winner.
India completed their chase with one over to spare and 6 wickets in hand.
He was declared the man of the match.
He said, “It's amazing coming overseas and it's a really good feeling to win the game and being not out. We had lost two quick wickets and it was really important ot build a partnership. We knew the ground is short and we could cover the run rate at any time. It was an amazing experience, this is my first time at Eden Park, looking forward to the same crowd and the same support again for the next game.”
The two teams will next clash with each other at the same venue on Republic Day.
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