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London: New Zealand's unbeaten record against India in Twenty20s continued today by beating the world champions by nine runs in their warm-up outing at Lord's. Several New Zealand batsmen chipped in with aggressive contributions to post an imposing total which their bowlers, led by the reliable Daniel Vettori, defended tenaciously against a powerful Indian batting line-up.
Chasing 171 for a win, India rode on sterling knocks from Rohit Sharma (36), Suresh Raina (45) and Ravindra Jadeja (41 not out) to cruise to what seemed an imminent win before eventually managing 161 for six.
Earlier, New Zealand survived Ishant Sharma's four-wicket haul to post 170 for seven with useful cameos from Ross Taylor (41), Brendon McCullum (31), Scott Styris (29) and James Franklin (27 not out off 10 balls).
India were off to a flying start with Rohit wasting precious little time to assert his class even in his uncharacteristic opener's role.
Rohit carved Iain O'Brien for a boundary in the first over and worse awaited the right-arm pacer who bled 18 runs in his second with Rohit hitting him for two massive sixes and a four with class written all over the shots.
The opening stand had yielded 42 runs inside five overs when Gautam Gambhir (14) fell to Ian Butler but Rohit smote James Franklin for another six to signal he was not perturbed.
India, however, soon find themselves in a spot of bother with rival captain Daniel Vettori striking twice in his first over.
Coming at number three, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) had advanced so much down the track that even a fumbling Brendon McCullum had all the time in the world to dislodge the bails.
Two balls later, Rohit fluffed a shot and much to hi s dismay, the ball rolled on to hit the stumps, cutting short his 20-ball knock bejewelled with three sixes and as many fours.
Earlier, the Kiwis overcame a shoddy start and some hostile bowling from Ishant before reaching a modest total with Taylor (41), McCullum (31), Styris (29) and James Franklin (27 not out off 10 balls) shining with the bat.
Despite McCullum and Jesse Ryder (2), arguably two of the most hard-hitting batsmen in contemporary cricket, opening the innings, New Zealand had a rather subdued start after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni put them in.
Ryder's poor form in the recent Indian Premier League continued here too and the left-hander had his off-stump uprooted by Ishant Sharma in the third over.
Brief Score: New Zealand 170 for seven (Taylor 41, McCullum 31, Franklin 27*, Ishant 4-25) beat India 161 for six (Raina 45, Jadeja 41*, Vettori 3-24) by nine runs.
