New Zealand Win Thriller By One Run

Chennai: New Zealand pulled off a nail-biting one run victory over India in the 2nd T20I at Chennai. Brendon McCullum set up the match for them with a brilliant 91 off 55 deliveries at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.

This piece of statistic apart, the match was about much more. It was draped in a comeback theme. Rains stayed away to help Yuvraj Singh stage one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of world sport and the southpaw will remember MAC Stadium for ever, and so will his fans in Chennai.

It was also a return game for local lad Laxmipathy Balaji, who played for India after a gap of three years. Yuvraj bowled two overs, conceding 14 runs and scored 34 (26b, 4x1, 2x6) with his new willow.

India were chasing a moderate target of 167 and given the formidable batting line-up, should have easily finished the match but the brilliant spells by Kiwi pacers James Franklin (2-26) and Jacob Oram changed the whole equation of the game.

Virat Kohli, in terrific form, opened the innings with his Delhi mate Gautam Gambhir as Virender Sehwag was ruled out due to flu but change in batting order did not make any difference as the right-hander kept plundering runs before offering a catch to substitute Tim Southee.

Gambhir, highest run scorer for India in T2os, once again failed to come up with a big one. Another left-hander, Suresh Raina (27), one of the best players in this format, added 60 runs with Kohli to help India take the upper hand in the match.

Raina's was a soft dismissal as he offered a simple catch to Ross Taylor in covers which brought Yuvraj to the crease. The Punjab braveheart batted with a lot of will and determination and his 34-run knock on Tuesday will be remembered for long. He did his part but failed to get those 13 runs with Dhoni in the last over.

Earlier, Indian pacers did well to restrict New Zealand to 167 for five. The visitors suffered an early jolt but Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson held fort with a 90-run partnership for the third wicket and rescued New Zealand from a slump.

McCullum, who has a terrific T20 record, took full advantage of a good batting wicket and played his shots all over the park. The hard-hitting New Zealand right-hander took on off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (34 in 3 overs) as he found it difficult to hit the pacers. Part-time medium pacer Kohli (27 in 3 overs) also bled runs.

Brief scores
New Zealand 167 for 5 (McCullum 91, Irfan 3-31)
India 166 for 4 (Kohli 70, Mills 2-17, Franklin 2-26)
Result New Zealand won by one run
MOM Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
Man of the series Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)