It was a bizarre game of cricket at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihar Vajpayee Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. There always is a talk as to how Lucknow only hosts white-ball matches and the other city in the form of Kanpur, hosts mostly Test matches.
It seemed like Lucknow was trying to put their hands up and tell the whole world that they are also capable of hosting a red-ball game as the pitch for the 2nd T20I between India and New Zealand was exactly like a Test match.
India kept their nerves and registered a narrow 6-wicket victory against the Kiwis in this game. After bundling out the visitors for a paltry score of 99, India was in the driving seat of the game. The pitch traditionally favored spinners therefore India went in with one change- Yuzvendra Chahal came in for Umran Malik.
The Indian bowlers shone brightly as almost everyone barring Shivam Mavi took a wicket. Arshdeep Singh was the only bowler to have taken 2 wickets in his 2 overs. Hardik Pandya had once again opened with the new ball and conceded just 25 runs in his 4 overs, whilst also picking up a wicket.
None of the New Zealand batters got their bearings right. Skipper Mitchell Santner was the top-scorer in the game as he scored 19* runs in 23 balls.
India struggled while chasing this small total
Chasing the total was always deemed to be a cakewalk for India. However, little did they know that the run-chase would be extremely tricky. The top order of India once again perished away without troubling the opposition bowlers or the scoreboard too much. Ishan Kishan once again failed in this format and it’s now 13 matches for him without a big score.
SuryaKumar Yadav was once again the cynosure of all eyes. It was a different inning for him as he had to take a backseat and respect the bowlers and the bizarre pitch. He scored a knock of 26* runs in 31 balls and was awarded the player of the match as he successfully guided India to victory.
Skipper Hardik Pandya stood tall on the other end and scored 15*(20). India played the decider match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 31st January 2023.
Also read: Top 5 Incredible Knocks From Rohit Sharma As A Captain In ODIs
