Carrying on their juggernaut, Virat Kohli and his men demolished New Zealand, whitewashing them 5-0 in the five-match T-20 series. Led by Rohit Sharma & later by KL Rahul, Team India defeated New Zealand in the fifth and the final T-20 by 7 runs, carrying forward their T-20 winning streak to 8 matches.
With this win, India became the first team to clean sweep a five-match T-20 series. This is India’s third clean sweep in the T-20 bilateral series. Earlier, they’ve whitewashed Australia 3-0 in 2015-16 and West Indies 3-0 last year.
Series Win A Collective Effort
India banks upon their big guns to deliver, but this victory was a result of a collective team effort. From Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to Navdeep Saini and Manish Pandey, each and every member a role to play in this emphatic victory. Every match India found a new hero, which has been the hallmark of this ruthless unit for quite a while now.
Series at a glance
India started the tour as favorites and has played exactly like the same. While it was the duo of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul that made a mockery of a mammoth chase in the first T-20, It was Ravindra Jadeja’s economical spell in the second T-20 that restricted New Zealand to a modest 135, which was easily brushed off by brilliant innings from KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
New Zealand turned up in the third T-20 and gave India a run for their money, thanks to a breath-taking 95 from the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson that took the match to a Super Over where Rohit Sharma hit two sixes of last two balls chasing 17 in the Super over to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead over the hosts.
The fourth T-20 was the replica of the previous game, a second consecutive tie of the series and this time it was KL Rahul who smoked 10 of 3 in the Super over to hand over New Zealand their 6th loss in seven games in tiebreakers.
KL Rahul the man of the moment
KL Rahul has been in majestic touch of late. In the 11 T-20Is played in the past two months, Rahul has notched up 487 runs at an average of 54.11. This series was just the continuation of his top form.
In the 5 matches he played this series, KL topped the list of batsmen with most runs, scoring 224 runs at an average of 54.66. In each of the 5 T-20is, Rahul gave India a blistering start, making full use of the power play, laying a strong foundation for the middle order.
The series has definitely put him ahead in the race of the first-choice opener.
Too Close yet too far for New Zealand
New Zealand will look back at the series and will realize that they had their moments. All of the last three matches, New Zealand were cruising at the halfway mark of the second innings but somehow managed to lose all the encounters.
The problem for New Zealand has been their big guns, Taylor and Williamson who’ve failed to take their team over the line. The series of losses has also raised a huge question mark over their temperament and has given them the tag of new chokers.
With T-20 WC lined up this year, New Zealand needs to fix their issues soon else another disappointment in an ICC event is on the cards.
Series win a huge boost for Kohli ahead of the T-20 WC
Considering the fact that the T-20 World Cup will be played on similar kinds of pitches in Australia, the series victory will definitely pump Virat Kohli with confidence for the mega event in October-November.
With this win, India has also made a statement for other teams that if they want to win the T-20 World Cup, they’ve to get past this ruthless unit.
The T-20 World Cup will begin on 18th October with 16 teams aiming for the glory.
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