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Following a clinical finish at Christchurch in the first T20I, Indian all-rounder Naman Dhir spoke on conversations with skipper Shreyas Iyer about not trying to overcomplicate things and hitting proper cricketing shots as the team found themselves in a little wobble while chasing a massive 226 runs.
With India at 166/5 at one point, it was a partnership between skipper Shreyas and Naman who took India to the brink of a win. After the captain's dismissal, Naman went full throttle, smashing an unbeaten 42* in 15 balls, with five fours and two sixes to secure India's highest-ever T20I run-chase with two balls left. Speaking in a video by BCCI, Naman said on the finish, "Winning a game for India is obviously a proud feeling, and especially since I am still young and new to the team, so it is very satisfying. And Gautam sir also talked about it in the dressing room: if you set the tone right from the beginning, it helps you further along. So I guess it is a very good win for all of us." Naman said that it was colder in New Zealand as compared to India, and he feels that he has been hitting the ball very well. "I just wanted to continue on the pitch. And I guess T20 games, white-ball, are situational. There the situation was different (in the rain-curtailed T20I against West Indies at home where he smacked a quickfire 24*); there you could go and hit a six right away, but here it was a bit different. So I was trying to adapt my game accordingly," he said. https://www.instagram.com/p/De0spJHzKfN/ On conversations with Shreyas, he further added that they were just "two good cricketing shots" from ending things. "Actually, at that time we discussed that if we hit two good shots, just proper cricketing shots, two boundaries, then the game would end right there. And yeah, we got those two crucial fours. There was not really anything to overcomplicate; we just needed to hit two good cricketing shots at that point, nothing else," he said. Naman also thanked the Indian fans in attendance for their support, calling it a "great feeling". "Wherever you go in any part of the world, so there is no bigger blessing for us than that. I would say come to the next match as well, support us like this, and let us see even more blue here," he signed off. 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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