India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I: Man of The Match, Post Match Presentation, Scorecard and Highlights

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Bengaluru, Nov. 18: India fended off a fighting New Zealand to get the three-match T20I series off to a winning start, defeating the Kiwis by five wickets in Jaipur on Wednesday.

After being invited to bat by new T20I skipper Rohit Sharma, Martin Guptill and Mark Chapman stitched together a scintillating partnership of 109 off 77, to set the visitors up for a big score. But Ravichandran Ashwin’s double strike put the brakes on the Kiwis as they posted 164/6.

In reply, India cruised towards a comfortable win with solid knocks from Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. But Trent Boult, who didn’t enjoy a memorable outing, removed both Rohit and Suryakumar to put the Kiwis back in the game.

Despite a little middle-over trouble, India chased down the target with two balls to spare to began their era under new head coach Rahul Dravid with a win.

India began their new era under a new coach and T20I captain. While Dravid took the reigns over from Ravi Shastri as the head coach, Rohit Sharma took over the T20 captaincy from Virat Kohli.

Post Match Presentation Highlights of the 1st T20I between India vs New Zealand:

List of Awards:

ACC Kamaal Ka Moment Award: Deepak Chahar

Dream11 Game Changer of the Match Award: R Ashwin

Hyundai Best Save of the Match Award: KL Rahul

Paytm Man of the Match: Suryakumar Yadav

Winning Captain: Rohit Sharma: It was a hard fought win. It didn’t come easy as expected, so great learning for the guys. They’ve not played for India in this situation - to understand what needs to be done, not about power-hitting all the time. As a captain we are happy that those guys got to bat in this situation. Technically a good game for us. We were missing a few players, but good opportunity for some other guys. the way we pulled it back. At one stage it looked they’d get 180 but the way they pulled it back. They’ve been brilliant. They’re not just there to bowl four overs and get out of the way, they want to take wickets.They are wicket taking options. Surya batted brilliantly. He takes his chances. He is a very important player. (On Boult dismissing him) We’ve played a lot of cricket together, Trent boult knows my weakness and I know his strength. When I am captaining him I always tell him to bluff and that's what he did. Happy with the win, first win, always nice.

Losing Captain: Tim Southee: You always want to come out on the right side of close ones. I think it was a good score. Mark Chapman - the way he played was very pleasing, but a game of fine margins. The way we started with the ball wasn't what we wanted, did well to claw it back in the middle, took it deep and to the last over was a positive. We set higher expectations so a bit off with the field. We’ve been very good at it in the last few matches. Tough that we'd used up all our resources, but Daryl does his scouting and always wants to bowl. We probably didn't leave him enough runs.

Suryakumar Yadav: I’ve been doing nothing different, I try to bat the same way in the nets and replicate the same in the game. I put a lot of pressure on myself in the nets, if I get out I go into the dressing room and think what better I could have done. The ball was coming on nicely to the bat, came on a bit slow later, but happy to be on the winning side. (On Boult's dropped catch) It's my wife's birthday, a perfect gift from him! I would have loved to finish the game, but that’s how you learn and move on.

R Ashwin: The slower you bowled there was purchase from the pitch. It’s kind of tricky in a T20 game. We thought it was par, par-minus, 170-175 was par, at the halfway mark we thought we would cruise home. Identifying the right pace took a bit of time for me. (On Dravid) It’ll be too early for me to comment. We need to give him some breathing space. He’s done the hard yards in the under-19 and A sides. He leaves nothing to chance - that’s what you expect from Dravid. It’s about preparation, leaving nothing to chance and bring back the joy.