Colin Munro played bright cricket, provided value for money to the spectators who had crammed the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium (SCA) at Khanderi Village and led New Zealand to a comfortable win in the second Twenty20 international.
Chasing 197 at an exacting asking rate of 9.85 an over, India lost wickets at regular intervals and though skipper Virat Kohli hit out to score his 18th half century in the shortest format of the game, the double blow at the start from left arm seamer Trent Boult, who accounted for Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, helped the visitor win the match by 40 runs.
At the start of this year, the 30-year-old left hander had gone to a place derived from a lava dome, called Mount Maunganui in his country, took guard at the fall of the first wicket and pummelled the Bangladesh bowlers to make a match-winning 101 off 54 balls with seven 4s and as many 6s. Many months later, New Zealand elevated Munro to the opening slot and after four matches consisting of three ODIs and a Twenty20 at the Kotla a few days ago, Munro struck big blows off bowlers who had held the upper hand for a better part of the ongoing limited-over series.
On the back of Munro’s extraordinary endeavour, New Zealand posted a formidable total to level the three match series 1-1 and hope for a win in the first Twenty20 to be played at a new venue in Thiruvananthapuram next Tuesday.
After being outplayed in the first match, New Zealand elected to bat and openers Martin Guptill and Munro responded with an array of shots on a pitch that was flat and gave leeway for the left-right combination to keep the score board moving at eight an over at the conclusion of six-over power-play.
India’s played its 71st player in Twenty20 in the 23-year-old seamer from Hyderabad, Mohammed Siraj. Virat Kohli tossed the new ball to him after Bhuvneshwar Kumar was worked on the on-side by Guptill for the first boundary shot of the match.
Guptill showed his class despatching the debutant seamer for a grand straight down the boundary, immediately after Munro had squeezed the same bowler to the point fence.
The opening pair put up a commanding display making the most of the power-play options and though the home team removed skipper Kane Williamson cheaply in the 15th over, with the right hander having a go at Siraj and offering a straight forward catch to Rohit Sharma at deep forward of square leg, Munro demonstrated the fearless and flamboyant trait to bat right through the innings.
After the fall of Williamson, Munro found a right partner in Tom Bruce and they added 56 for the unbroken third wicket. New Zealand went into the match dropping Tom Latham and Tim Southee and played Glenn Philips and Adam Milne. Thanks to some excellent bowling from Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit Bumrah, who evoked circumspection from the likes of Guptill and Munro, India was able to keep the New Zealand total under 200.
Siraj discovered the perils of Twenty20 cricket conceding 53 runs in his four over, while left arm spinner Axar Patel and medium pacer Hardik Pandya also found Munro a tough customer.
Dropped on 79 by Yuzvendra Chahal at deep cover off Bhuvnewshwar, Munro became the third batsman to score a century against India in a T20 bilateral series after Australia’s Shane Watson (124 not out, Sydney, 2016) and West Indies’ Evin Lewis (100, Lauderhill, 2016 and 125 not out, Kingston, 2017) .
