Virat Kohli & Co suffer eight-wicket drubbing to New Zealand and stare at T20 World Cup exit exactly seven days after experiencing 10-wicket hammering by arch-rivals Pakistan
New Zealand players celebrate the dismissal of India’s Rohit Sharma while skipper Virat Kohli (left) looks on during their T20 World Cup match in Dubai yesterday. Pic/AFP
The moment Virat Kohli lost the toss there was despondency at the Dubai Stadium. The foremost question in everyone’s mind was will India buck the trend of a team batting first and losing the game?
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India managed a mere 110-7, which proved easy meat for New Zealand as they romped home with eight wickets and 33 balls to spare. Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson batted with supreme confidence after the early departure of Martin Guptill to virtually seal the match.
India’s second loss in as many matches, makes their task of qualifying for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup very bleak, despite having easier teams in Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia as their opponents in their last three games. After their loss to Pakistan last Sunday, one expected India to come out firing on all cylinders.
But in their eagerness to be over-aggressive, the top order batsman lost their wickets to some injudicious strokes and with the fall of every wicket they dug a deeper hole for themselves. Then there a phase when the Indian batsmen lost their way and for a total of 71 balls there was not a single boundary hit by the batsmen. That clearly sums up a forgettable day for the Indians on Sunday.
Ish Sodhi was declared the man of the match for his 2-17 which included captain Kohli, who departed for just nine. Rohit Sharma, another key batter was sent back by the leggie.
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