The Indian cricket team performed in a great manner in the three match T20I series against New Zealand as it whitewashed the series by winning all the three matches and Rohit Sharma must be pretty happy as it was his first series as a full time skipper. The third T20I was played yesterday at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, and Rohit Sharma decided to bat first after winning the toss straight third time in a row.
The Indian team had a good start as both the openers Rohit Sharma (56 runs, 31 balls, 5 fours & 3 sixes) and Ishan Kishan (29 runs, 21 balls, 6 fours) produced partnership of 69 runs for the first wicket which set the platform for a big score. However, Suryakumar Yadav got out on duck while Rishabh Pant also got dismissed at the meager score of 4 runs. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer played useful knocks of 25 runs (20 balls, 2 fours) and 20 runs (15 balls, 1 four & 1 six), respectively but were not able to produce big score or a very useful partnership. India managed to put up a score of 184/7 on the board as in the end of the innings, Harshal Patel (18 runs, 11 balls, 2 fours & 1 sixes) and Deepak Chahar (21 runs, 8 balls, 2 fours & I six) scored some quick runs.
In response, New Zealand never looked as a strong contender of winning the match as other than Martin Guptill who scored 51 runs (36 balls, 4 fours & 4 sixes), no other Kiwi batsman was able to provide resistance to the Indian bowling attack and the whole team got out on 111 runs in just 17.2 overs. India won the match by 73 runs and with this, the hosts also registered a series win by 3-0.
The pick of the Indian bowlers was Axar Patel who took 3 wickets in his 3 overs and gave only 9 runs and for his superb bowling, he was adjudged as the Player of the Match. Harshal Patel also took two wickets plus contributed well with the bat too.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted a video in which both the Patels – Axar and Harshal are having quite an interesting conversation. In the video, Harshal can be heard telling Axar that they may not have decided it but it seems that Player of the Match will stay between both the Patels only.
Harshal Patel made his debut in the second match of the series which was played at Ranchi and in that match, he won the Player of the Match award for his superb performance. When Axar Patel asked him about his match winning performance in his debut match, Harshal said that it was a great feeling as his other debuts have not been that good but he used his skills well and helped the team in winning the match.
Harshal Patel also said that he had the required skills as well but the change in the mindset is the main reason behind his improved performance and this change came in the last two years. He added that playing in the IPL helped him and whatever he did in the tournament, he decided to carry on with in this series as well and luckily things worked out for him.
Click here to watch this video
India and New Zealand will also play two test matches starting November 25 at Green Park, Kanpur, and these test matches are a part of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-23. The second test match will be played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, from December 3.