Indian team started their New Zealand tour on a good note by winning the first T20I of the five-match series by 6 wickets. The match was played at Eden Park in Auckland and chased down 204-run target despite some hurdles in between.
Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, and Colin Munro all hit half-centuries for New Zealand as they put on 203 runs on the board. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of Indian bowlers when others were hit all around Eden Park.
India lost Rohit Sharma early, but a 99-run partnership between Kohli (45) and Rahul (56) set a good foundation for the middle order to launch the winning assault. That responsibility was taken by Shreyas Iyer, who made 58* and finished the match by hitting a six and taking his team home.
Shreyas Iyer won the Player of the Match award for his brilliant and match-winning knock and said, “It's amazing coming overseas and it's a really good feeling to win the game and being not out. We had lost two quick wickets and it was really important to build a partnership. We knew the ground is short and we could cover the run rate at any time. It was an amazing experience, this is my first time at Eden Park, looking forward to the same crowd and the same support again for the next game.”
Meanwhile the winning captain Virat Kohli was happy with the outcome and mentioned, “We enjoyed it. Just landing two days ago and playing a game like this sets it up for the whole tour. We had great support. We had 80% of India fans here and the atmosphere was great. You need that in a 200-plus chase, they help us go further, be braver. We never spoke of jet lag. We don't want to use it as an excuse. If we focus on things that aren't important then you're taking attention away.”
He further said, “We had a really good series against Australia and we took that confidence in here. You can't be harsh on anyone on this kind of pitch. I think we did well in the middle overs, to restrict them under 210 was a good effort. I think fielding is one thing that we can improve on, just getting used to the ground dimensions and the ball snaking a bit.”
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
