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Following India's win over New Zealand in the first T20I, the New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips hailed the Indian opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, saying that one has to have "every plan under the sun" against them as they offer very "little room for error".
An explosive 93-run stand, powered by a half-century from Sanju and a fiery finish from Naman Dhir, powered India to their highest run-chase in T20Is, galloping down 226 runs after a brief collapse during the middle overs which left the world champions at 122/4. Sanju (67 in 33 balls, with eight fours and four sixes) was the top-scorer, continuing his fine run of form in T20Is this year, while Naman (42* in 15 balls, with five fours and two sixes) found immense success in his new role as a finisher. This continued Sanju and Abhishek's success as an opening pair, who have added 1,218 runs together in 39 innings, with a century and seven half-century stands, averaging 31.23. Speaking about the pair in the presser after the match, Phillips said, "Rhythm is the hardest thing, especially when you got Sanju and Abhishek doing what they are doing. If you miss it, it is hard to recover from that. We did very well to recover after they basically hit us for, what, 96 or six overs. To take it down to the last over with a side like that that bats to nine is, I think, a fantastic effort to at least show the character, to bring it back, show that we are still in the game the whole time. And obviously, Naman Dhir batted really well at the end there and took it away from us." Further adding about the pair, he said, "They are obviously fantastic. You got to have Plan C, D, E, F, G, H, I. You have got to have every plan under the sun with guys like that, as they offer such small room for error. Yeah, the pitchers are fantastic as well. Also, the bounce is probably a little more than they used to when they adjusted really well today. I guess we have got all our plans on the drawing board, but at the end of the day you have got to execute them." A hard-hitting 82* by Glenn Phillips and powerplay pyrotechnics from Finn Allen and Tim Seifert helped New Zealand end at 225/4, their highest in home T20Is, against India in the first T20I of the five-match series at Christchurch on Thursday. Bhuvneshwar Kumar's return after four years was an underwhelming one, as he was carted for 49 in four overs. Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel got a wicket each, but each leaked runs in excess of 10 per over, with Glenn (82* in 40 balls, with eight fours and three sixes), Finn Allen (45 in 24 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Bevon Jacobs (31 in 16 balls, with three sixes) firing all cylinders. During the chase, Sanju (67 in 33 balls, with eight fours and four sixes) and Abhishek (29 in 12 balls, with two fours and three sixes) put on a 93-run stand for the first wicket. However, from 93/1, Team India collapsed to 122/4. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel (24 in 14 balls, with three fours and a six) stitched a 45-run stand to bring back hope for India. Iyer (42 in 28 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Naman (42* in 15 balls, with five fours and two sixes) finished off the game with two balls in hand. (ANI)
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