India start new era with win over T20 World Cup finalists New Zealand

Three
days
after
losing
to
Australia
by
eight
wickets
in
the
T20
World
Cup
final,
the
Black
Caps
went
down
in
the
first
match
of
the
three-game
series.

With
captain
Kane
Williamson
missing
the
T20
series
to
prepare
for
the
Tests,
Tim
Southee
stepped
up
to
lead
New
Zealand,
though
it
was
his
counterpart
Rohit
–
taking
charge
of
India
in
the
shortest
format
for
this
series
after
Virat
Kohli
stepped
down
–
who
came
out
on
top.

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It
went
down
to
the
wire,
with
Martin
Guptill
(70
from
42
balls)
and
Mark
Chapman
(63
off
50),
who
hit
his
first
T20
half-century
for
the
Black
Caps,
leading
New
Zealand
to
164-6,
with
Ravichandran
Ashwin
taking
2-23
and
Bhuvneshwar
Kumar
2-24.

Rohit’s
brilliant
48
and
an
outstanding
62
off
40
balls
from
Suryakumar
Yadav
put
India
into
a
strong
position
in
the
chase,
and
with
five
overs
remaining
the
result
looked
to
be
sewn
up.

Yet
Suryakumar’s
dismissal
at
the
hands
of
Trent
Boult
saw
some
nerves
set
in
for
India,
with
Shreyas
Iyer
(five)
and
debutant
Venkatesh
Iyer
(four)
falling
in
a
cagey
finish.

Ultimately,
Rohit
and
new
coach
Rahul
Dravid
got
the
win
they
craved
with
just
two
balls
to
spare
when
Rishabh
Pant
(17
not
out)
sliced
a
shot
over
mid-off
and
to
the
boundary.

Rohit
up
and
running

Replacing
Kohli
as
skipper
is
not
an
easy
task,
but
Rohit
showed
his
usual
proficiency
with
the
bat
as
he
knocked
off
48
from
36
deliveries,
including
five
boundaries
and
two
sixes.

What
might
have
been
for
Boult

Boult
had
figures
of
2-31,
with
21
of
those
runs
coming
from
his
second
over.
To
further
compound
his
frustration,
the
paceman
dropped
Suryakumar
on
61,
not
only
failing
to
take
what
should
have
been
a
relatively
simple
catch,
but
also
seeing
the
ball
go
to
the
boundary
to
boot.

He
did
at
least
end
Suryakumar’s
stint
at
the
crease
in
the
next
over,
though
those
runs
proved
costly.