Team India tastes its first T-20 win against a Kiwi side even though they are the number one side in Test cricket. Ashish Nehra’s farewell saw Team India upsetting the number two ranked side by crushing them to a 53 run defeat. Incidentally, India is in 5th position after playing 23 matches and accumulating 118 points, whereas New Zealand did make 121 point in 14 games and remain within top two. The 158 run opening partnership between the left right combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma saw India’s fortunes change and knocked the top team out of the post with a facile win. Thus the jinx was broken and India finally beat NZ in a T-20 match. Nehra bowled 4 overs and conceded less than 30 runs in his final game and got a rousing farewell as the Delhi team mates Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan chaired him off in a fitting reception. After scoring 200 plus, the chase was never going to be easy for the visitors when both their aggressive openers were back in the pavilion with just 18 runs on the board. The writing was on the wall and the home team scripted an emphatic win as Nehra carried the burden of opening bowling with Chahal to the cheer of the Kotla crowd. At 38 years, Nehra became India’s second oldest player to appear in a T-20 game after Rahul Dravid did this earlier.
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