Christchurch T20I: India lose half their side

Christchurch: Hosts New Zealand clawed their way back into the game after India opener Virender Sehwag annihilated their new ball bowlers, smashing four sixes in his 10-ball blitzkrieg of 26 runs. Suresh Raina was joined by Yusuf Pathan as India lost their fifth wicket.

Gambhir, who looked scratchy and didn’t time the ball too well, lost his middle stump when he tried to clobber Ian O’Brien over midwicket but the lack of bounce meant that he mistimed the slog and was beaten all ends up. This dismissal however did not perturb Sehwag, who continued to flay the Kiwi attack to all corners of the short ground.

Soon after O’Brien struck again when Sehwag eyed a short square boundary but misjudged the length of the ball and lost his legstump. O’Brien was ecstatic with this dismissal and the New Zealand fans were relieved to see the back of the dangerman.

Rohit Sharma’s poor run in international cricket continued as he tried to slog a Ian Butler delivery but managed only a leading edge with wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum claiming the skier with precision and leaving India in a spot of bother.

Suresh Raina’s breezy knock continued but India continued to lose wickets. The next to go was flamboyant southpaw Yuvraj Singh who misread a Daniel Vettori arm ball and was trapped leg before wicket – plumb in front. India captain MS Dhoni, who has developed a reputation of saving India in such, precarious positions, didn’t do that reputation any justice in his first outing in New Zealand as he was clean bowled by Butler in the last delivery of the eighth over. The ball kept relatively low and the offstump rocked back. The fans were thrilled a blitz as hard-hitting all-rounder Yusuf Pathan joined Raina.

Earlier, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and chose to field first in the curtain raiser of India’s tour of New Zealand – the first Twenty20 international at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Wednesday.

India captain MS Dhoni expressed satisfaction at the toss, revealing that he wanted to bat first and got what he wanted. Promising young all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was left out of the playing XI as the Pathan brothers – Irfan and Yusuf – comprise of the lower-midle order.

For New Zealand, superstar all-rounder Jacob Oram returned to the team after a groin injury sidelined him from the five-match ODI series against Australia that the constantly improving Black Caps squared at two wins apiece.

Oram will be joined by a potent pace-battery comprising of debutant left-armer Ewen Thompson, Ian O’Brien, Tim Southee and Ian Butler. Daniel Vettori will lead the spin-attack while all-rounder Jesse Ryder was picked ahead of Grant Elliot.

Elliot was a surprise exclusion, especially since his tremendous showing on the tour of Australia. Nathan McCullum, younger sibling of hard-hitting opener Brendon, was the other middle-order batsman.

Seven years is a pretty long time for anything let alone a cricket tour, that is precisely the time India has waited since it toured NZ last time in 2002. That series was characterised by some abysmally bad pitches where they could have let the cows have a field day on those grassy beauties.

If former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull’s pitch report is any indication, the pitch is true and won’t have the pace and bounce like in the 2002 series. The outfield is a quick one and the cold conditions could have the final saying, since there is absolutely no grass on the surface. It is a perfect, placid surface for Twenty20 cricket as a jam-packed audience arrived at the stadium to watch the ‘Rock Stars of Cricket’.

New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (wicketkeeper), Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Daniel Vettori, Ian Butler, Tim Southee, Ewen Thompson Iain O'Brien.

India: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma