JAIPUR, India — India gave
Rohit Sharma a winning start as captain by securing a five-wicket victory over
New Zealand in the first T20 international despite a late wobble in Jaipur on
Wednesday.
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The hosts were cruising towards a target of
165 as Rohit struck a quickfire 48 and
Suryakumar Yadav made 62.
India, from needing 23 from the final four
overs with eight wickets in hand, stuttered badly to leave them still requiring
10 off the last over, bowled by part-time seamer Daryl Mitchell.
But Rishabh Pant struck the winning boundary
over mid-off with two balls to spare to put India 1-0 ahead in the three-match
series.
It was an encouraging start to life as
skipper for Rohit, who took over from Virat Kohli in the shortest format
following India's shock Super 12 exit at the T20 World Cup.
"Towards the end we saw it wasn't easy.
Was a great learning for the guys because those guys haven't batted in that
situation before for India," said Rohit.
New Zealand, without usual captain Kane
Williamson, were playing just three days after their World Cup final loss to
Australia in Dubai.
India made a bright start to their chase
before opener KL Rahul was caught off Mitchell Santner for just 15.
But the home side, with new coach Rahul
Dravid in the dugout for the first time, took total control through Yadav and
Rohit.
Yadav, who was given the man-of-the-match
award, struck six fours and three sixes in his 40-ball innings before he was
clean bowled by Trent Boult, who earlier removed Rohit, in the 16th over.
New Zealand dragged themselves back into the
contest in the closing overs, but stand-in skipper Tim Southee turned to
Mitchell instead of leg-spinner Todd Astle in the 20th over and Pant got India
over the line.
"We played our best cricket and took it
deep," Southee said.
Guptill, Chapman impress
Earlier, half-centuries by Martin Guptill
and Mark Chapman propelled the visitors to 164 for six.
The Kiwis lost Mitchell for a duck, bowled
in the first over by seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Guptill and Chapman then put together a
109-run second-wicket partnership, hammering the Indian bowling attack at
will.
Chapman scored 63 in 50 balls but fell to
Ravichandran Ashwin as he tried to hit the off-spinner over the leg-side
boundary. Ashwin also dismissed Glenn Phillips, lbw, in the same over for
nought.
But Guptill continued with his lively
innings, smashing four sixes and three fours in his 70 off 42 balls before
being caught at deep mid-wicket. Wicketkeeper Tim Seifert tried to accelerate
but was caught off Kumar for 12.
Kumar finished with figures of 2-24 while
Chahar and Mohammed Siraj took one wicket each.
The teams will meet in the second T20I on
Friday in Ranchi.
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