A bruised India was all set to counterstrike after their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Kiwis. The visitors came out with flying colours and have put behind the defeat they suffered at the hands of the hosts in the opening fixture of the T20I series. The visitors were in complete control of the game most of the time.

Except for a sudden blistering inning by Coln de Grandhomme, the black caps were never dominating and were completely outclassed by the visitors.

New Zealand had set a modest total of 159 and the visitors made the task look easy with seven wickets and as many balls in hand.

The series is now 1-1 level and the last T20I match will be the decider.

Skipper Rohit Sharma hit a blistering half-century and became the leading run-scorer in T20 International Cricket. Everyone chipped in with Rishabh Pant hitting a 40 and MS Dhoni contributing 20 runs and remained unbeaten. India achieved the target with seven balls to spare. For the black caps, Colin de Grandhomme top-scored with 50 runs and New Zealand made 158 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 over.

Spinner Krunal Pandya took 3 wickets, Khaleel Ahmed took two wickets.

The former trapped Colin Munro (12) and skipper Kane Williamson (20) and the latter chipped in and took two wickets in the final over.

A bruised India in a do or die situation

Looking at past history, India has never won a single T20I in New Zealand. Therefore it will be another milestone which could be reached. The present overseas tour of Indian Cricket Team has been very special and many epoch-making events have happened.

Kohli and his boys will surely try to add one more feather in their cap and achieve this laurel.

Indians were clinical in both batting and bowling.

It was a tough job for the visitors after the opener in which the hosts had comprehensively defeated the visitors with both bat and ball. All the spinners were hammered by the Kiwi batsmen and the score of 219 for 6 was the highest at the Westpac Stadium.

All the star batsmen like Shikhar Dhawan, Vijay Shankar and Krunal Pandya failed and only MS Dhoni stood firm at one end but it was an effort in futility. However this time the Indians were clinical in both batting and bowling.

India did not have much to introspect since there is hardly a day between the last T20I match. The visitors are still smarting under one of the biggest loss in T20I short history. All the bowlers including the supposedly seasoned B Kumar went for runs.

Indian bowlers will be having pre-match jitters thinking of how Opener Tim Seifert punished the Indian bowlers and plundered 43-ball 84. The visitors must have a foolproof plan to keep him under check. Hardik Pandya and Khaleel Ahmad also were hammered for over 12 runs an over.
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