India-NewZealand Jaipur: India defeated New Zealand by five wickets in the first T20 match of the series here on Wednesday, marking a victorious beginning for new skipper Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid.
After restricting New Zealand to 164 runs for the loss of six wickets, India reached the winning score of 166 runs by losing five wickets with two balls to spare.
In the thrilling encounter, which was once going away from India's grip, Rohit Sharma (48) and Suryakumar Yadav (62) contributed some crucial runs to give India a strong start to the match.
KL Rahul (15) failed to convert the start he got in the match.
Venkatesh Iyer (4) and Shreyas Iyer (5) failed with their willows.
However, Rishabh Pant (17*) added some quick runs to reach the target following some tense moments.
In a special display of batsmanship, Martin Guptill (70) and Mark Chapman (63) scored quick-fire half centuries, to fire New Zealand to 164 for 6 against India in the first of the three-match bilateral T20I series being played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
The Kiwis kept finding the boundary ropes with Chapman looking to lead the show after losing the first wicket. In the sixth over, Chapman took Deepak Chahar to cleaners as he crunched two boundaries and a six in the sixth over, making his intentions clear.
Between 11 and 13 overs, New Zealand crunched 40 plus runs with Guptill and Chapman hammering Chahar and Mohammad Siraj, in their respective overs. The Indian bowlers looked clueless as they failed to rein in the New Zealand batsmen.
Put into bat, it was Bhuvaneshwar who provided India with the first breakthrough with his very first ball when he cleaned up Mitchell Daryl with an inswinger.
After Daryl's departure, Chapman led the rebuild by spanking boundaries. He put on 109 runs for the second wicket with Guptill. Both the batsmen took the Indian bowlers to the task as they scored boundaries at will.
Soon, New Zealand reached 110 before Chapman was sent packing by Ravichandran Ashwin in the 14th over. The left-hander scored 63 off 50 balls and his power-packed innings was studded with 6 boundaries and 2 sixes.
Glenn Philips, who came in next, didn't trouble the scorers as he was sent home by Ashwin in just his third ball of his fourth over.
However, those two quick wickets didn't deter Guptill who smacked three sixes and stitched a crucial 40 runs for fourth wicket with Tim Seifert and took the Black Caps' total to 150 for 4, before the opener was dismissed by Chahar caught by Shreyas Iyer.
Tim Seifert (12), who was dropped by Axar Patel, and Rachin Ravindra (7) did not last long as they fell to Bhubaneswar and Siraj, trying to up the ante in the death.
Ashwin and Bhuvaneshwar bagged two wickets each, while Siraj and Chahar picked one each.
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