Tilak Varma helped India snatch victory from New Zealand's hands, beat them by four wickets

New Zealand looked to have bounced back in the second T20I at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch, but India kept it late as a dramatic knock from Tilak Varma helped India chase 181 runs in the final over of the match. The conditions weren’t tailor-made for the batters to play an aggressive brand of cricket and that put India on the back foot early on, but the gamble of playing an extra batter finally worked as India won the match to take a 2-0 lead in the series. 

Meanwhile, India won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. They had a rough start, with Tim Seifert, Finn Allen and Daryl Mitchell failing to make any sort of impact. The trio departed for 7, 16 and 6 runs,



respectively, as New Zealand were reduced to 41/3 at one stage. Since then, Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs took over the responsibility and didn’t just bring New Zealand back into the contest, but also allowed them to post a defendable score on the board.

Both cricketers took some time to settle down early on, before putting the pressure back on the Indian bowlers. Phillips ended up scoring 70 runs off 43 balls, with the help of four boundaries and four maximums, while Jacobs scored 58 runs off 46. For India, Arshdeep Singh picked up two, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked his first international wicket in four years. However, he conceded 50 runs in his four overs, which is certainly a concern.