After being put in to bat first, Rohit Sharma’s sorry showing with the bat continued in this SRL as the opener perished for just 5, leaving India in a precarious position early on. A promising 38-run partnership between KL Rahul and Virat Kohli then ensued, but the dismissal of the latter then triggered a mini-collapse, with the Men in Blue then quickly being reduced to 93/7. However, a valiant half-century from Rahul and a few lusty blows from the bat of Navdeep Saini marshalled India’s total to 146.

Having lost each of their last 5 games, New Zealand’s chase got off to a disastrous start, with both Munro and Williamson perishing within the first four overs, but then two fine partnerships - Guptill/Taylor and Guptill/Seifert - took the Black Caps within striking distance. Guptill, who scored 70, then perished going for glory, but ice-cold strikes from Neesham and Colin de Grandhomme was enough to ensure that the Kiwis finally registered a W after a string of Ls. 

Loose bowling from the Indian new-ball bowlers after scalping two quick wickets came back to bite them on the backside as both Guptill and Taylor took their opportunity to run out of harm’s way with both hands. At 18/2, India had a golden opportunity to choke the Kiwis right then and there, but them conceding 22 off the last 2 powerplay overs meant that the Black Caps felt no pressure whatsoever. When 148 is all you’re defending, you simply cannot offer presents to your opponent. Unfortunately, India did. 

A no-show is something you generally expect from the Kiwi batsmen, but roles were reversed today as it was the Indian middle-order that decided to go AWOL. Iyer, Pant, Pandya and Jadeja combinedly scored a total of 21 runs in 27 balls and refused to put any kind of fight against the Kiwi attack. Did someone remind them that cricketers don’t have holidays for Labour Day?

India losing a wicket or two in the powerplay has become a common sighting of late, but on the day, they did well to keep the scoring rate high despite setbacks. Seven boundaries were how much they hit inside the first 6 overs and all these largely came from the bat of skipper Kohli, who hit 3 fours and 1 six in what was a counter-attacking knock, after losing Rohit Sharma early. 52/2 is not a bad start by any means.

All the hard work put in by Kohli and Rahul in the powerplay were undone in seconds by the Indian middle-order batsmen as they staggeringly ended up scoring JUST 43 RUNS in the entirety of the middle overs, for the loss of 5 wickets. In what was a shambolic display of middle-overs manoeuvring, the Indian batsmen let the part-time duo of Neesham and de Grandhomme bowl four overs for figures of 4-15-0-3. Poor Rahul could not just believe what he was witnessing. 

When you have your opponents by the scruff of their neck, at 95/7, at the end of the 15th over, you expect your bowlers to knock them off under 120 but the Kiwis staggeringly let the duo of Rahul and Saini dominate them and ended up conceding 51 runs off the last 5 overs without picking a single wicket. The hideous performance at the death saw them concede 4 extras - including an unnecessary no-ball - while bowling just four dot balls. 

A New Zealand game getting rated ‘bad’ isn’t a surprise anymore, but for once, they were on the right end of things. It was India’s dismal display with the bat that killed the excitement in the encounter and by the half-way stage of innings number two, it was pretty obvious that the Black Caps were going to win.