10/24/2026 07:30:00
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10/24 07:28 CDT Tilak and Reddy guide India to 4-wicket win over New Zealand
with 1 ball left in 2nd cricket T20
Tilak and Reddy guide India to 4-wicket win over New Zealand with 1 ball left
in 2nd cricket T20
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) --- Tilak Varma made an unbeaten 51 from 26
balls to guide India to a four-wicket win over New Zealand with only one
delivery to spare Saturday in the second Twenty20 cricket international.
India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. It won the opener by four
wickets with two balls remaining.
The second match appeared to be slipping away from India when New Zealand
captain Mitchell Santner took 4-21 through the middle of the innings but the
tourists again found a way to win against the odds.
Tilak came to the crease with 112 runs still needed to overtake New Zealand's
total of 180-5. He put on 42 for the sixth wicket with Naman Dhir (31), then
guided India home in an unbeaten stand of 69 with Nitish Kumar Reddy for the
seventh wicket.
India showed off its depth after losing hard-hitting opener Sanju Samson early
and teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi getting out for only 4 in his first
T20 innings in the Southern Hemisphere.
A tight finish
With five overs to go, India needed 68 runs to win with four wickets in hand
and the odds seemed to favor a New Zealand victory.
But as Varma and Reddy stayed composed in pursuit of victory, New Zealand's
bowling and fielding faltered in the last few overs.
India took 13 from the 16th over, nine from the 17th, 17 from the 18th and 18
from the 19th over as Tilak struck the last ball of the over for six.
That left the tourists needing 11 runs to win from the last over. Tilak hit a
boundary from the second ball bowled by Jacob Duffy and, after a wide made the
batters' task easier, India completed its chase with a ball to spare.
"I feel that every individual in our game is a match-winner," India captain
Shreyas Iyer said. "Today we saw the example of that.
"Honestly speaking, when we lost consecutive wickets we thought that the game
was going away from us but Tilak and Reddy showed immense character."
Poor start for New Zealand
Earlier, Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs made half centuries in a 116-run,
fourth-wicket partnership which allowed New Zealand to reach 180-5 after a poor
start.
New Zealand lost three wickets in the first, six-over power play, including
those of openers Tim Seifert (7) and Finn Allen (16).
At the midpoint of its innings, New Zealand was 66-3 and it was clear there was
not going to be a repeat of the first match of the series on Thursday in which
455 runs were scored. India won that match by completing the highest successful
T20 run chase in its history.
Phillips again rallied the New Zealanders as he did in the first match in which
he scored an unbeaten 82 from 40 balls. He reached his half century Saturday
from 48 balls while Jacobs, cautious at first, made 50 from 41 deliveries.
Phillips finally was out for 70 from 43 balls and Jacobs followed soon after
with 58 from 46 balls.
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