India pip Black Caps with a ball to spare to setup series decider

At Lucknow, India: New Zealand 99-8 (Mitchell Santner 19 not out; Arshdeep Singh 2-7 off 2) lost to India 101-4 off 19.5 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 26 not out off 31; Michael Bracewell 1-13 off 4) by six wickets.

To a series deciding third match they go, one perhaps both sides will be pleased isn’t being played on the spinner friendly deck in Lucknow.

India beat the Black Caps by six wickets on Monday morning (NZT), but only after squeaking past the visitors’ 99-8 with a ball to spare.

It was mighty tough sledding for the hosts, even after New Zealand recorded their lowest score against India (111 was the previous low) and failed to reach triple figures for just the ninth time in T20 history.

Needing 13 runs from the final 12 balls, and six off Blair Ticker’s final over, Suryakumar Yadav slapped the penultimate delivery over mid-off to spare India’s blushes.

The relief on Yadav’s and captain Hardik Pandya’s dials was clear. After all, they know they made tough work of a chase they completed with ample wickets in the can.

Led by Yadav’s unbeaten 26 from 31, India had their fair share of problems on tricky surface, one Black Caps spinners bowled a whopping 17 overs on. As did the Kiwis.

Indeed, playing on a track which looked as if someone had haphazardly sprayed it with a defoliant, leaving a patchy surface which offered exaggerated spin and bounce to make life miserable for batters, the Black Caps never got going after electing to bat first.

They weren’t helped by openers Devon Conway and Finn Allen, and No 4 Glenn Phillips all perishing playing reverse sweeps – what ever happened to playing straight? – or No 3 Mark Chapman running himself out.

And when left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav bowled Daryl Mitchell (8) with a ball which spun menacingly from wide outside off-stump and struck the timber, the Black Caps were 48-4 halfway through their innings.

Indian spinners were asked to deliver 12 of the first 14 overs on a day the boundary rope was essentially a distant dream for the Kiwis, beyond it 50,000 screaming fans.

Including two streaky Allen fours off Pandya, the Black Caps mustered just six boundaries in their innings.

To be fair, even Suryakumar Yadav – the top ranked T20 batter in the world – found the going tough and was almost bowled by part-timer off-spinner Glenn Phillips.

He, Ish Sodhi, Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner generated hefty spin, so much so the usually accurate Santner bowled three wides.

Heck, even Mark Chapman (1 over for 4 runs) was asked to bowl an over of left-arm spin, before captain Santner asked Lockie Ferguson and Tickner to bowl the final two overs with 13 runs needed for India setup a decider.

The big moment

Suryakumar Yadav’s heart was in his mouth for a brief moment when he top-edged Bracewell in the 14th over and Jacob Duffy and Phillips were converging on it. However, a diving Duffy couldn’t pull in the chance, which would have sent him packing with 11 runs to his name.

Best with the bat

Nobody looked comfortable, perhaps refreshingly given bat generally dominates ball in T20 cricket. But Yadav kept his cool as India, not helped by two awful pieces of running resulted in run outs, squeaked home.

Best with the ball

Bracewell. He dismissed the dangerous Shubman Gill and finished with the superb figures of 1-13 from four overs.

The big picture

The series remains alive, much to the relief of the hosts. So, to Ahmedabad they go on Thursday with it all on the line. New Zealand last won a T20 series in India in 2012, when they triumphed 1-0 over two matches.