New Delhi: India successfully defended a target of 68 runs in the third and final T20I at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. After rain delayed the start of the match, the final T20I was reduced to eight overs per side.
The hosts restricted New Zealand to 61 runs and thus won the match and series 2-1. The match was a closely fought one. In last two overs, New Zealand needed 29 runs with six wickets in hand. Captain Virat Kohli handed the ball to Jasprit Bumrah in the penultimate over and it proved to be a wise decision as the pacer gave away only ten runs and picked a wicket as well apart from a run-out.
However, it wasn’t purely Kohli’s decision to hand Bumrah the penultimate over. The Indian captain after the match admitted that after receiving the suggestion from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni he decided to use Bumrah in the second last over.
“Rohit (Sharma) and MS (Dhoni) came up with Bumrah bowling the second last,” said Kohli during the post-match presentation.
“Hardik (Pandya) bowled the last over well. When Hardik got hurt, I was like God forbid if I had to bowl the last four balls,” he added.
The India captain was happy to get a game after the rain had threatened to washout. “We were really happy that we were able to get a game in eventually. This crowd deserved to watch some action because they waited patiently. It was an exciting game again,” Kohli said.
Kohli reflecting back on the match said: “like the one-dayers we expected them to give us a good fight. I know the wicket was a little damp earlier on so we were quite nervous about getting enough runs on the board but 67 turned out to be a good total plus we saved a few in the field as well.”
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