Cricket Blog

India lost Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina in successive overs to be at 36/2 in 4.3 overs in the second Twenty20 international against New Zealand in Wellington on Friday.

India lost the second wicket when Raina mistimed a hit to mid-on for Tim Southee to take the catch off Ian Butler. Raina, who top scored for India in the last match, fell for a duck today.

Sehwag’s blitzkrieg knock came to an end when he was caught by New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori to put India at 29/1 in 3.3 overs.

Sehwag hit an over pitch delivery from Iain Edward O’Brien straight to mid-off for Vettori to take the catch after hammring the Kiwi bowlers by hitting 5 fours in his 11-ball 24.

This was after Vettori won the toss and elected to bowl first.

India have replaced Rohit Sharma with Ravindra Jadeja while the Kiwis have not made any change in their side that beat India in the last T20.

World champions India would be seeking to restore their pride after being trounced in the first match, fully aware that only an inspired show will help them to level the series.

The seven-wicket defeat at Christchurch in the first match must have taken the reputation of Dhoni’s young bravehearts as kings of Twenty20 a serious beating which they can only rectify by winning.

A victory will also boost their morale ahead of the five-match ODI series starting on March 3 and put a balm after their second successive loss against New Zealand in the shortest format of the game.

However, the visitors will have to do a lot of catching up as the Kiwis have the distinct advantage of having bowling all-rounders in their ranks, in contrast to India who rely on their batsmen to bowl in the middle overs.

Having established the lead in the series, the Kiwis would be keen to complete a 2-0 rout, which they are immensely capable of, before the five-match One-day series kick starts at Napier.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, RA Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori, Jesse Ryder, Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Iain O’Brien.