India defeated New Zealand by 6 runs in the final T20I at Thiruvananthapuram in a rain-shortened 8 over per side match.
Defending a total of 68, Bhuvneshwar Kumar castled Martin Guptill in the first over. In the next over, Jasprit Bumrah picked dangerous Colin Munro after a brilliant catch from Rohit Sharma.
Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson and Glenn Philips too went in quick succession to leave New Zealand at 28 for 4.
Bumrah proved his class with the ball once again by giving away just 9 runs in the 7th over.
With 19 runs required in the final over, Colin de Grandhomme hit a six off the 3rd ball to keep the match alive but Hardik Pandya held his nerves to win a closely fought match by 6 runs to win series 2-1.
Meanwhile, ahead of the last two balls former India skipper MS Dhoni was seen making the field adjustments as the current India skipper Virat Kohli was near the boundary ropes to save the boundary. Kohli was all pumped up after Pandya won the game for his team by defending the runs in the final over.
Here’s the video:
https://twitter.com/CricketKaVideos/status/927954107444248576
CHAMPIONS #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/eE3rsVQDjO
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 7, 2017
Earlier, after being put into bat, India didn’t get off to a great start in the eight-over game. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were dismissed in the space of two balls by Tim Southee.
Ish Sodhi then produced another excellent spell as he finished with 2/13 in his two overs and although Kohli, Manish Pandey and Hardik got into double digits, none of them got going. And, the hosts ended with 67/5 from their eight overs.