On this day in 2020 – India and New Zealand play out a thrilling tie in 3rd T20I
New Zealand and Super Over is not a love story but more like a one-sided affair that isn’t fancied by any Kiwi cricket lover. New Zealand have been part of seven Super Overs thus far in T20 cricket and have emerged as the second-best in six of them. From the cricketing point of view, 2020 had a terrific start as the viewers were served with utmost entertainment during the five-match T20I series between India and New Zealand conducted in the month of January.
The tied game
One of the most memorable matches of the previous year was the third T20 International played between the Black Caps and the Men in Blue on January 29, 2020 at Seddon Park in Hamilton. India were not in the game for a major portion and the hosts were deemed as the favourites to win. However, the pressure got the better of Kiwis and they allowed Virat Kohli & Co. to somehow drag the game to the Super Over and steal it in the end.
The toss went in the favour of Kane Williamson and he invited India to bat first. Opening the innings, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul provided a good start to the visitors as they collected 89 runs within the first nine overs. Rohit played a terrific knock of 65 runs. This was followed by skipper Kohli playing a fiery knock of 38 runs and Manish Pandey applying the finishing touches to help India post a decent total of 179 runs on the board.
However, it was a bad day at the office for the Indian bowlers as they leaked a lot of runs despite scalping wickets at regular intervals which helped New Zealand to dominate the match. The Black Caps skipper Kane Williamson was the wrecker-in-chief as he emerged as a lone warrior by playing a remarkable innings of 95 runs off 48 balls.
In the end, New Zealand needed just 9 runs in the last over off Mohammed Shami to seal the deal. The hosts had almost succeeded in their plan by scoring 7 runs in the first two balls and had to score two more in the last four deliveries. However, Shami had other plans as he bowled the spell of his life scalping two wickets while giving just 1 run in the next four balls to help his team make a comeback in the game.
The Super Over!
Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t at his fluent best and as a result, Kane Williamson and Martin Guptill smashed a whopping 17 runs and gave India a target of 18 in the Super Over. In reply, India could score only 8 runs in the first four deliveries off Tim Southee and needed 10 more to clinch a historic victory. That is when the aggressive Rohit Sharma did the unthinkable and smashed two sixes off the last two deliveries to take India home.
Though the game caused a heart-break to a lot of New Zealand fans, it was an iconic day for the true cricket lovers as they were served with a thrilling game of cricket.
