India break T20I jinx, bid adieu to Nehra with win vs Kiwis

New Delhi, Nov 1 - Veteran pacer Ashish Nehra could not have asked for a better send-off as India thrashed New Zealand by 53 runs at the Ferozshah Kotla here on Wednesday to bring up their maiden win against the Kiwis

Dhawan had by now reached his third T20 fifty with a single off an inside edge off left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who cramped him for room.

The southpaw turned up the heat by smashing a couple of sixes even as Rohit got to his 12th T20I half century by clobbering Santner for a maximum and two consecutive boundaries as India's score crossed the 150-run mark in no time. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, who was till now at the receiving end of Dhawan's onslaught, got the better of the southpaw with a googly outside off.

Dhawan's stay at the crease was ended when he failed to connect the ball and instead nicked back to stumper Latham. Two balls later, Sodhi packed the dangerous Pandya (0), who was promoted up to accelerate the scoring rate.

With 3.2 overs left, skipper Virat Kohli (26 off 11 balls) walked into the middle amid loud cheers from the capacity crowd and began sending the bowlers to the leather hunt in the company of former skipper Dhoni, who was at 7 off two deliveries. After the match, Nehra took a lap of honour around the ground with the entire team with him.

His long-time Delhi team-mates Kohli and Dhawan hoisted him up on their shoulders as he waved energetically at the crowd. With the win, India have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match rubber and will next face the Kiwis at Rajkot on Saturday.

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IANS