India struggle to series-leveling win

NZ 99/8 (20)

IND 101/4 (19.5)

India won by 6 wkts

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Suryakumar Yadav

Team India captain Hardik Pandya described the wicket for the second T20I against New Zealand on Sunday, 29, January 2023 as a shocker. He lamented that the surface for the second T20I in Lucknow as well as the first in Ranchi is not fit for T20 matches.

Hitting out after India crawled to a series-leveling victory, Pandya said at the post-match presentation, “To be honest, it was a shocker of a wicket. Both the games we have played on so far. I don't mind difficult wickets. I am all up for that, but these two wickets are not made for T20.”

India beat New Zealand by six wickets in a low-scoring game at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Batting first after winning the toss, the Kiwis managed only 99/8 in their 20 overs as Indian spinners stifled the opponents. In the chase, India also lost four wickets and needed 19.5 overs to reach the target of 100.

Suryakumar Yadav, Player of the Match: A different version of SKY today. Adapting to the situation was very important when I went into bat. After losing Washy, it was important for someone to take the game till the end. (On his mix-up with Washington Sundar) It was my mistake, it was definitely not a run, I didn't see where the ball was going. It was a challenging wicket. We didn't think it's turn this way in the second innings but it's important to adapt. We just needed one hit in that over and it was very important to calm our nerves. Before we got the winning runs, he (Hardik) came and told me 'you are going to finish on this ball' and that gave me a lot of confidence.