India lose second straight game at T20 World Cup as New Zealand hammer Virat Kohli's side
India suffer second successive defeat at T20 World Cup with eight-wicket hammering by New Zealand following last week's 10-wicket loss to Pakistan; Virat Kohli's men will be eliminated if they lose to Afghanistan on Wednesday; New Zealand claim first win as bowlers and Daryl Mitchell star
Sunday 31 October 2021 22:42, UK
India's hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup took a massive hit as New Zealand inflicted an eight-wicket hammering on Virat Kohli's pre-tournament favourites in Dubai.
India suffered a 10-wicket defeat to in-form Pakistan a week ago and now have two disappointing results from two after the Black Caps topped their tiny total of 110-7 with 33 deliveries to spare.
The game was played on the same pitch used for England's thumping win over Australia on Saturday and the match followed a similar pattern, with the side inserted labouring - a timid India going 71 balls between boundaries at one stage - and the team chasing easing to their target.
New Zealand were not quite as destructive as England, who beat Australia with 50 balls in reserve, but Daryl Mitchell nailed 49 from 35 balls at the top of the order as he played the Jos Buttler role for the victorious Black Caps.
India are four points adrift of second-placed Afghanistan and will be eliminated if they are beaten by Mohammad Nabi's side at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday evening.
Even victories in all three of their remaining matches - India also play qualifiers Scotland and Namibia - may not be enough for a semi-final place, with Kohli's side relying on other results to go their way in Group 2.
New Zealand - beaten by table toppers Pakistan in their opening encounter - are toasting their first two points of the competition, a haul they will be expected to double when they meet Scotland in Dubai in three days' time before further fixtures against Namibia and Afghanistan.
Live ICC Men's T20 World Cup
Live ICC Men's T20 World Cup
Trent Boult (3-20), birthday boy Ish Sodhi (2-17) and Mitchell Santner (0-15) led the Kiwis' bowling effort against India, for whom only KL Rahul (18 off 16) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 no off 19) scored at over a run a ball.
Each of India's top four - Rahul, Ishan Kishan (4), Kohli (9 off 17) and Rohit Sharma (14 off 14) - were caught on the boundary, with India-born leg-spinner Sodhi accounting for Kohli and Rohit.
Rohit - batting at No 3 as Kishan opened with Rahul after coming in for the injured Suryakumar Yadav (back spasm) - had been dropped on nought at long leg by recalled paceman Adam Milne off the bowling of Boult.
Milne's first over was then tonked for 15 but the quick - called into the New Zealand squad as a replacement for calf-injury victim Lockie Ferguson - rallied to finish with 1-30, which included bowling Rishant Pant (12).
India mustered only 10 boundaries in their innings, with none of them coming off the eight overs of spin shared between Sodhi and Santner and just two struck off left-arm quick Boult, who added to to his wicket of Kishan in the third over by having Hardik Pandya (23 off 24) and Shardul Thakur (0) caught in the deep in the 19th.
Martin Guptill (20 off 17) hit three fours for New Zealand up top and when he was caught off Jasprit Bumrah (2-19), Mitchell took up the boundary-scoring mantle, amassing three sixes and four fours.
Captain Kane Williamson (33no off 31) played second fiddle to Mitchell but then hit two fours off Hardik in the 14th over - one a delicious arched-backed shot over wicketkeeper Pant - before clipping the winning single off Thakur in the 15th on a deflating evening for India.
WHICH PLAYERS STARRED?
Trent Boult - set the tone in the first over by conceding just one run as he and Tim Southee, like England's seamers against Australia on Saturday night, focused on hitting a good length. Had Kishan caught at deep square in his second over and would have had Rohit, too, had Milne not suffered a severe case of the butterfingers. Boult returned to have the slogging Hardik and Thakur pouched in the penultimate over and sent down 13 dot balls in total during a fine night's work.
Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner - conceded a combined 32 runs from their 48 balls as they straitjacketed India's batters. Sodhi bagged the wickets on the day he turned 29 years of age, picking up Kohli's at the start of the 11th over with a leg-break that the India captain swiped to Boult at long-on, but Santner was mightily effective, too, with 11 dot balls, two more than Sodhi managed, so deserves plenty of pats on the back as well.
Daryl Mitchell - not one of New Zealand's most glamorous names but he dazzled in Dubai, taking left-arm spinner Jadeja's sixth over for 14 with a six and two fours, a feat he matched in the ninth over, bowled by seamer Thakur. Mitchell couldn't stick around to finish the job, caught in the deep off a Bumrah slower ball one run shy of fifty, but he won't be too bothered.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Live ICC Men's T20 World Cup
In-form England will all but secure a semi-final spot if they beat Sri Lanka in Sharjah on Monday (1.30pm, Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event).
Eoin Morgan's side's net run-rate is stellar after thumping wins over West Indies, Bangladesh and, most recently, Australia, and if they make it four victories out of four, it will be extremely tough for South Africa and Australia to overtake them in Group 1.
In fact, success against Sri Lanka followed by a South Africa defeat to Bangladesh on Tuesday would guarantee England's place in the last four.
Live ICC Men's T20 World Cup
Live ICC Men's T20 World Cup
New Zealand and India, as mentioned earlier, return to action on Wednesday. The Black Caps face Scotland in Dubai (9.30am, Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event) before India play Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in a fixture Kohli's charges cannot afford to lose (1.30pm, Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event).
Watch the T20 World Cup live on Sky between now and November 14.
