Suryakumar Yadav anchors sinking Indian innings to level the series 1-1 against New Zealand
On Sunday, India defeated New Zealand by six wickets on second-last ball in second T20I in Lucknow to level the three-match series 1-1. Suryakumar Yadav scored well and finished making unbeaten 26 runs with the skipper Pandya scoring 15. Kumar was adjudged the player of the match for a type of innings he is quite not known for.
India restricted New Zealand to 99/8 in their 20 overs. It’s the lowest-ever score by New Zealand against India in a full T20I match. Apart from this, The match witnessed Yuzvendra Chahal overtake Bhuvneshwar Kumar to become India’s highest wicket-taker in T20Is.
India Vs New Zealand 2nd T20I Brief Highlights:
The pitch showcased some serious spin-friendly scenes there and all the spinners of the Indian team accounted for a wicket piling up the pressure on Kiwis. If India were trapped in New Zealand’s spin trap in the first T20I, they returned the favour in Lucknow. Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar and Deepak Hooda have all struck to leave New Zealand at 48/4 at the end of the first 10 overs. New Zealand were eventually restricted to a score of 99/8. However, the Kiwis then made sure that India had anything but an easy chase in their hands. Regardless, they punished the hosts for every small mistake they made running between the wickets. Finally, it was only Suryakumar Yadav’s four off the fifth ball of the 20th over that took India to victory.
Adapting to the situation was very important: Suryakumar Yadav
The ball spun the same way in the second innings. Nonetheless, the Indian batters played sensibly holding the wickets and chasing down the target taking the match to the penultimate ball.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya kept their cool to guide India to a hard-fought win over New Zealand in the second T20I encounter in Lucknow. Chasing 100, India were unable to accelerate and it took another gritty known from Suryakumar to get them over the line.
Known for his ball smashing skills, Yadav had to adapt to a different skillset for this victory. Showing nerves of steel he managed to show another determined innings to win more hearts. Here’s what SKY had to say about his innings:
“Adapting to the situation was very important, so you might have seen a different SKY. I had to make sure I batted till the end. It was a challenging wicket we had to adapt well. We just needed one hit in the end, and it was very important to calm ourselves down. Both of us kept motivating each other and it was helpful.”
Moreover, the fixture gets more interesting now with India leveling the series and taking the result to the final on Wednesday!
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