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Indian left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh made history, becoming the highest wicket-taker for the country in T20Is during a calendar year, surpassing veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar's four year old record.
During the second T20I at Christchurch, Arshdeep was the pick of Indian bowlers with 2/33 in four overs, with wickets of Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips. Arshdeep, who stands just two wickets away from becoming India's first cricketer to reach 150 T20I wickets, has 38 wickets this year at an average of 24.78 and an economy rate of 9.25, with best figures of 5/51. Previously, Bhuvneshwar had taken 37 scalps in 32 matches at an average of 19.56, with two fours and a five-wicket haul to his name. The most wickets by a bowler in T20Is during a calendar year belong to Ireland pacer Joshua Little, who took 39 scalps back in 2022. Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. They had New Zealand down 41/3 within the powerplay. Glenn Phillips (70 in 46 balls, with four boundaries and sixes each) and Bevon Jacobs (58 in 46 balls, with five fours and a six) led New Zealand's recovery after an early top-order collapse against India after Kiwis were down 41/3 within powerplay, stitching a 116-run stand for fourth wicket, taking NZ to 180/5 in 20 overs. Besides Arshdeep's 2/33, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav and Nitish Kumar Reddy got a wicket each. While chasing 181 set by New Zealand, the world champions collapsed from 40/0 to 112/6, with Mitchell Santner's four-fer causing havoc in the middle overs. The hope was reinstated by a quickfire 31 in 17 balls (with a four and three sixes) by Naman Dhir, and it was Tilak (51* in 26 balls, with six fours and a six) and Nitish (26* in 13 balls, with a four and a six) who took India to victory with a ball left. India is 2-0 up in the five-match series. (ANI)
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