IND vs NZ T20 World Cup 2021, New Zealand opted to bowl first against India. India changed the opening combination by sending Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul to counter Boult with the new ball. India had a disastrous start, yet again. They lost Ishan (4), Rahul (18) in the powerplay (35-2). Rohit (14) played a couple of good shots before he threw his wicket. Kohli (9) struggled to rotate the strike and too many dot balls put pressure on him to play a big shot and gets out.
India did not hit a single boundary in the middle overs (7-15). Pant (12), Pandya (23) failed to help India with the finishing touch. A small cameo from Jadeja (26) and India reach 110-7. New Zealand bowlers gave no chance for Indian batters. Ish Sodhi (2 for 17), Boult (3 for 20) destroyed Indian batting.
In response, Guptill and Mitchell started aggressively before Bumrah gets Guptill (20). Daryl Mitchell took over after the dismissal of Guptill and fell before his maiden T20i half-century. Eventually, skipper Williamson (33) played a run-a-ball inning and guide New Zealand to a comfortable 8 wicket victory. Indian bowlers apart from Bumrah (2 for 19) looked clueless and no reason to blame them as batters disappoint.
With this setback, India is on the verge of elimination, only a miracle can help them qualify for semis.
