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India vs New Zealand 1st T20I: Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul shine as Kohli & Co. gun down 204

Shreyas Iyer's 26-ball half-century along with KL Rahul's blitzkrieg at the top of the order helped India beat New Zealand by six wickets at Eden Park in the opening encounter of the five-match T20I series.

India beat New Zealand by six wickets in the first match of the five-match T20I series between the two countries on Friday.

Shreyas Iyer’s 26-ball half-century along with KL Rahul’s blitzkrieg at the top of the order helped India beat New Zealand by six wickets at Eden Park in the opening encounter of the five-match T20I series on Friday. Iyer built on KL Rahul’s (56 off 27 balls) blazing start and Virat Kohli’s useful 45 off 32 balls as India made short work of a 204-run target, knocking it off with an over to spare.

Credit should be given to Indian bowlers for restricting New Zealand towards the end considering the dimensions of the Eden Park.

Winning shot ♥️✨🔥 Shreyas iyer finished off in style 🔥
Another Win for india #NZvsIND #ShreyasIyer pic.twitter.com/qTMYUb5awz

— Saahiil Sharma (@iamsaahiil) January 24, 2020

Toss: India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field

1st innings: Colin Munro, Kane Williamson, and Ross Taylor smashed scintillating half-centuries to power New Zealand to a challenging 203/5. Opener Munro blasted six fours and two sixes in his 42-ball 59, while skipper Williamson treated the Indian bowlers with equal disdain, hitting them out of the park four times in his 26-ball 51.

Ross Taylor then clobbered an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. His innings was laced with three sixes and as many fours.

Opener Martin Guptill also chipped in with a 19-ball 30. For India, Jasprit Bumrah (1/), Shardul Thakur (1/44), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/32), Shivam Dube (1/24) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/18) snapped one wicket each.

2nd innings: Chasing a tough target, India lost Rohit Sharma early (7) when he went for a big hit against Mitchell Santner. But KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli anchored the chase with a counter-attacking strategy in the powerplay. The duo stitched a partnership of 99 before Ish Sodhi removed Rahul for 56. Kohli followed suit a couple of overs later when he was dismissed for 45 by Tickner.

The ploy to send Shivam Dube (13) up the order only had limited success. At 121/3 in 11.1 overs, India was in a spot of bother but Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey’s 64-run stand ( which included five fours and three sixes ) helped India cross the finishing line without any hiccups.

Brief Score: NZ 203/5 (20.0) | IND 204/4 (19.0)

(With PTI inputs)

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