Plays of the day from the World T20 match between India and New Zealand in Nagpur
Alagappan Muthu15-Mar-2016T20 cricket takes an interviewIt’s the first ball of the Super 10s. Martin Guptill takes guard against R Ashwin and gets off the mark with a straight six that is as brutal as it is pristine. Consider that the top button undone. Guptill takes guard against Ashwin again. It is only the second ball of the match but the action heats up. The offbreak is held back, Guptill goes for the slog sweep, misses it and is adjudged lbw. That’s the tie being loosened. Finally, out walks Colin Munro, and introduces himself on World T20 debut with an outrageous switch hit for six. That’s putting your feet up on the boss’s table. Essentially, the Twenty20 version of taking an interview, and acing it.The backhandThe Nagpur pitch was slow, spin-friendly and even lent extra menace to India’s part-time spinners. Suresh Raina was happy to be the beneficiary – he finished with 1 for 16; it should really have been 2 for 16. In the 12th over, after Corey Anderson dabbed one back down the pitch, Raina sprung to his left, took hold of the ball in one hand, rolled over so he had a clear line of sight to the stumps, and the backhanded flick did the rest. Virat Kohli ran into the huddle with his finger up, third umpire Marais Erasmus agreed, and Ross Taylor, a key player who has a history of unlocking big hits later on, was run out for only 10.The yorker machineMS Dhoni called Jasprit Bumrah irreplaceable because Jasprit Bumrah gave MS Dhoni peace of mind. “I know who is bowling at the death for me. That’s a big relief,” the India captain said before the tournament. So when the 16th over came, who was the ball thrown to? Bumrah. And what did he do? String five yorkers in a row and one of them left Anderson’s stumps an utter mess. New Zealand could only scrounge two runs off those six balls.The medicine shoved backMitchell Santner does not turn the ball. He was picked as the third spinner in the squad, and the XI today, and a lot of that may have hinged on his excellent composure as a batsman. Try telling that to Rohit Sharma though. The India batsman drifted down the pitch, looking perfectly poised for a flick through midwicket, but Santner shortened his length and yet derived massive turn and bounce. The outside edge was comfortably beaten and Rohit was so far outside his crease that the wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi had time to recover from a fumble to stump him.
