Shreyas Iyer special sees India thrash Kiwis by 6 wkts in 1st T20I

It was another special display of batsmanship from young Shreyas Iyer as he continued from where he had left against Australia in Bengaluru to take India home in the opening T20I against New Zealand at Eden Park on Friday The visitors led by Iyers 58run knock chased down New Zealands total of 203 with six balls to spareIt was only poetic justice that Iyer took India home with a six off Tim Southee as the Indian fans in the crowd went berserk But it wasnt about just Iyer He had the perfect second fiddle in Manish Pandey 14 off 12 balls as the duo ensured they kept the required runrate in check even after losing inform KL Rahul 56 off 27 balls and Virat Kohli 45 off 32 ballsIn the end they need 18 off the last two overs But Iyer wasnt waiting till the last over and started the 19th over with a six That was the end of New Zealands hopes as he then hit a boundary off the next ball to make it 8 needed off 10 balls After that it was a walk in the park for the visitors The unbeaten 62run partnership off 34 balls between Iyer and Pandey ensured that India took a 10 lead in the fivegame seriesBut it wasnt the start India would have wanted in the chase with Mitchell Santner sending back Rohit Sharma for just 7 in the second over But Rahul and skipper Kohli kept the scoring rate going and the visitors looked well on course to overhaul the target before Ish Sodhi sent back Rahul caught by Southee as he ran in from longoff to complete an easy catchKohli left after a couple of overs as Martin Guptill took a brilliant catch running in at deep midwicket off Blair Tickners bowling With both the inform batsmen back in the hut and the scoring rate rising with every passing delivery it was all about going for the boundaries and Iyer and Pandey decided to plan it outIn fact it was the Kiwi bowlers who looked clueless towards the end of the game as they failed to rein in the Indian batsmen especially Iyer as Pandey was happy to rotate the strike and hold one end upEarlier New Zealand started with a flourish but the Indian bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah 131 came back strongly to restrict the Kiwis to 2035 in their 20 oversColin Munro 59 was the star of the show for the hosts at the top but he was well supported by skipper Kane Williamson 51 and Ross Taylor 54Put into bat New Zealand had a great start as opener Munro and Martin Guptill put on a 80run stand for the first wicket Both the batsmen took the Indian bowlers to the task as they scored boundaries at willIt was allrounder Shivam Dube who provided India with the first breakthrough when Rohit Sharma took a brilliant catch on the boundary to dismiss Guptill who scored 30 off 19 ballsSkipper Williamson then joined forces with Munro and took the New Zealand score to 116 before the lefthanded opener was sent packing by Shardul Thakur in the 12th over Munro scored 59 off just 42 balls and his powerpacked innings was studded with 6 fours and 2 sixesColin de Grandhomme who came in next didnt trouble the scorers as he was sent home by leftarm spinner Ravindra Jadeja in just his second ball of the spell However those two quick wickets didnt deter the hosts as Taylor and Williamson stitched a 61run partnership and took the Black Caps total to 178 before the skipper was dismissed by legspinner Yuzvendra ChahalThe small ground ensured that the Kiwis kept finding the boundary ropes with Taylor looking to lead the show in the death overs for the home side While Bumrah did look his brilliant self and gave away just four runs from the 18th over and picked the wicket of Tim Seifert Taylor looked to take Mohammed Shami to task in the 19th as he started with a boundary But the senior pro came back strongly and gave away just 9 runs from the overBumrah twisting his ankle in the last over meant that he didnt look his usual self and gave away 12 runs as New Zealand had Taylor remaining unbeaten on 54 with a strike rate of over 200Brief Scores New Zealand 2035 Munro 59 Taylor 54 Williamson 51 India 2044 Iyer 58 Rahul 56Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever