KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma scored respective half centuries as India defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets in the second T20 international in Ranchi on Friday.
After being asked to bat first by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, New Zealand opening pair of Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell got the visitors off to a blazing start. The duo added 48 runs for the first wicket before the former top-edged a Deepak Chahar short delivery to Rishabh Pant for a 15 ball-31.
*
Mark Chapman (21) perished to Axar Patel, slicing a tossed up delivery to Rahul at long-off.
Glenn Phillips was given a reprieve when Venkatesh Iyer put down a catch at long off after juggling the ball.
However debutant Harshal Patel claimed his maiden international wicket by dismissing Daryl Mitchell (31) caught at long on by Suryakumar Yadav.
Phillips along with Tim Seifert added 35 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was caught at short third man while attempting a reversed-scoop off Ravichandran Ashwin.
Harshal claimed his second wicket by dismissing the 24 year old Phillips caught at deep square leg for a quickfire 34. His knock came off 21 balls with a solitary four and three sixes.
James Neesham (3 off 12) struggled to get going as the Black Caps ended up with 153/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
For India Harshal Patel was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/25, while Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar claimed a wicket each.
Chasing 154, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got the hosts off to a quickfire start. The pair added 117 runs for the opening stand before the latter skied a Tim Southee slower delivery to Glenn Phillips at deep square leg for a fine 65.
Rohit reached his half-century by smashing Adam Milne for a six over fine leg. However he fell soon after, giving a simple catch to Guptill at covers for 55.
New batsman Suryakumar Yadav fell for just 1 as he dragged a Southee delivery on to his stumps.
Rishabh Pant finished off the match in style by smashing Jimmy Neesham for consecutive sixes as the Men in Blue reached the target with 16 balls to spare.
Harshal Patel was declared the Player of the Match.