Brandon McCullum and Jacob Oram led New Zealand to an emphatic seven-wicket victory in the first Twenty20 international against India at the AMI Park in Christchurch on Wednesday.
Riding on the unbeaten knocks of McCullum (56) and Oram (29), the Kiwis achieved the victory target of 163 runs with 7 balls to spare. Oram registered the Kiwi victory with a six over the covers off Yusuf Pathan.
Man of the Match McCullum hit 3 sixes and 2 fours in his 49-ball knock, while Oram's knock was studded with 2 sixes and 3 sixes. The unbeaten 50-run partnership came after the Kiwis were reduced to 106/3 when Harbhajan Singh got rid of dangerous looking Guptill, who scored a quick-fire 41, as he trapped him in front of the wicket.
Ishant Sharma struck with his very first delivery to dismiss Jesse Ryder to put New Zealand at 2/1 in 1.1 overs. Ishant trapped Ryder (1) plumb in front of the wicket to draw first blood. Ishant could have got his second wicket with his very next delivery as Martin Guptill shouldered arms as the ball came in hit his pads in front of off-stump, but umpire Evan Watkin turned down the appeal. Earlier, Suresh Raina (61) and Harbhajan Singh (21) guided India to a fighting total of 162/8. The unbeaten knock by Raina that came off 43 runs and was studded with 5 sixes and 2 fours, ensured that India ended up with a fighting total after they were tottering at 112/7 in 15 overs following the dismissal of Irfan Pathan. Pathan (12) checked his shot and edged a Jesse Ryder delivery to Nathan McCullum at point to take the catch.
Shortly before that, Yusuf Pathan hit three consecutive sixes before Jacob Oram took a stunning catch to reduce India to 83/6 in 10 overs. Pathan hit Nathan McCullum for three consecutive sixes before going for the fourth one over long-on where Oram caught the ball, realized he would run over the boundary, threw the ball back in the air, and came back in to complete the catch. Pathan's 20 runs came off 8 balls and came after India lost captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh cheaply to be struggling at 62/5 in 8 overs.
Dhoni (2) was clean bowled by Ian Butler by a superb ball that came back in sharply soon after New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori trapped Yuvraj plumb in front of the wicket by an arm ball to send the dashing southpaw back to the pavillion. The breakthrough came after Rohit Sharma (7) was caught by Brendon McCullum off Butler. Rohit hit one six in his knock.
This was after India lost Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag to be at 32/2 in 3.1 overs.
Article Source:http://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/New_Zealand_win_toss_bowl_first/articleshow/4187207.cms
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