Super Sixes SRL | IND vs NZ Evaluation Chart - Williamson’s unbeaten blitzkrieg takes New Zealand all the way

BySritama Panda, SportsCafe Editor

05/27/2020

After having lost their previous Super Sixes fixture against England, New Zealand bounced back into the competition by registering an incredible win, a margin of eight wickets, against India. Kane Williamson’s 38-ball 65* were the differentiator despite Kohli’s unbeaten knock.

Match Review

After the winning toss, New Zealand asked India to bat first and the bowlers inflicted a great start with Lockie Ferguson and Trent Boult checking the runs and the latter removing KL Rahul pretty early. Rohit Sharma, however, stayed on and kept the run rate moving upward and shared a strong 76-run second-wicket partnership with Virat Kohli. The Indian captain, who hasn’t been in great touch lately, finally bounced back and scored an unbeaten 42-ball 74 to take India to a total of 179/7 after 20 overs.

In reciprocation to a considerably big target of 180, New Zealand looked fairly confident with Colin Munro taking charge of the batting right from the start while his partner Guptill took to the back seat till the fifth over, when the former was dismissed. After Munro’s dismissal, Guptill and Williamson formed a strong 83-run partnership which consolidated the chase. Further on, Williamson(65 n.o. off 38) fired against all bowlers to smoothly sail through the chase and win the game by eight wickets in the end.

You can check out the scorecard and Match Tracker here.

Turning Point

To me, the turning point of the game was Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant’s dismissal in the 13th over by Colin de Grandhomme. India were just recovering from the loss of Rohit Sharma’s wicket in the 11th over and the score was decent at 104 for 2, but after a great start, Iyer’s dismissal put an end to what could’ve been a storm of a partnership between him and Kohli.

Highs and Lows

I believe the high of the game was both captains, Kohli and Williamson, putting up a great show in the contest. It marked a comeback for the Indian captain who hadn’t been in great touch lately. While Kohli remained unbeaten on 74* off 42, taking India to a decent total of 179/9, Williamson’s unbeaten knock of 65 off 38 saw New Zealand to an easy victory in the 18th over of the chase.

According to me, the low of this game was the performance of the Indian bowlers, all except Bumrah. Everyone starting from the pacers to the spinners were battered by the New Zealand top-order, and especially by Williamson. Like, for example, Shardul Thakur went for 18 runs in the 15th over despite removing Guptill from the attack. From then on, there was no looking back for New Zealand and the chase was smooth.

Rating Charts

Powerplay exploitation: - India (6.5/10) and New Zealand (8/10)

At the end of the Powerplay, India were on 45/1, a decent score given they had lost just one wicket. While KL Rahul dismissed in the second over, by Boult, his opening partner Rohit Sharma took charge and found a strong partnership in Kohli and they both added 14 runs in the fourth over, bowled by Ish Sodhi. That pumped up the run rate which was decayed due to Rahul’s early dismissal and they fully recovered after squeezing out 10 runs off Ferguson, in the final over of the Powerplay.

On the other hand, chasing a big enough target of 180, New Zealand were on 53 for the loss of one wicket the end of the first six overs of their innings. It was Colin Munro(32 off 20) who started off firing in the chase but his run was put to an end by Shardul Thakur in the fifth over after New Zealand added 9 runs in that over. The Kiwis, however, had a decent score of 47/1 on the board by then after which Guptill took charge and took the momentum forward.

Middle overs:- India (7.5/10) and New Zealand (10/10)

The opening partnership between KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma was broken pretty early but it also marked the main partnership of India’s innings, the one between Sharma and Kohli, that was added 76 runs off 53 balls and accelerated the innings in the middle overs. After Sharma’s wicket in the 11th over, Pant and Iyer were dismissed quite early. However, Kohli pulled through and took India to 126/4 at the end of 15 overs with help from Hardik Pandya. The 15th over, by Sodhi, saw Pandya whacking sixes and squeezing out 17 runs. Right ahead of the death overs, Kohli was on 36 off 26 and Pandya on 16 off 7.

On the other hand, New Zealand looked stronger in the middle overs barring one hiccup in the form of Martin Guptil’s dismissal in the 15th over. However, with Kane Williamson already looking strong and shots fired by Ross Taylor, that over by Shardul Thakur conceded 18 runs, and New Zealand recovered from the dismissal immediately. At the end of 15 overs, New Zealand were on 147/2 with just 32 runs required off the final five overs.

Death Bowling: - New Zealand (5/10) and India (1/10)

At the end of the 15th over, India had set the stage for a good enough total with Kohli and Pandya, both, taking charge. The Indian batsmen whacked the Kiwi bowling attack left, right, and centre with the 16th over, bowled by Mitchell Santner, being the most expensive one squeezing out 19 runs as Kohli reached his 50. In the last five overs, India added 53 runs and lost three wickets but those dismissals didn’t hinder the scoring much as Kohli remained unbeaten.

On the other hand, Indian bowlers were whacked too as New Zealand seemed to be in a hurry to complete the remaining 33 runs despite having five overs in hand. Williamson(65* off 38) and Ross Taylor(28* off 11) joined hands to take New Zealand to an easy victory in the 18th over itself. Frankly, the Indian bowlers had nothing much to the do there as the game was won in the middle overs itself.

Match Frenzy O Meter - Good

It was naturally a great game of T20 but as far as the Super Sixes competition is concerned, it wasn’t much of a strong contest as India looked feeble against New Zealand on both fronts. However, as far as the batting of both teams is concerned, the game had all the elements that make a T20 game great. The match was a high scoring game turned out to be a one-sided affair in New Zealand’s favour.