India’s hopes at the Men’s T20 World Cup are hanging by a thread after New Zealand inflicted a second successive miserable defeat on the pre-tournament favourites.
After a 10-wicket thrashing against rivals Pakistan in their opening game, Virat Kohli’s side were again woefully abject with the bat to suffer an eight-wicket defeat, with 33 balls to spare, in Dubai.
Put into bat, they lacked intent and crawled to 110-7, only hitting eight fours and two sixes to all but silence an Indian-dominated crowd.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja top-scored with an unbeaten 26 from 19 balls, while left-armer Trent Boult took 3-20 and spinner Ish Sodhi 2-17 for New Zealand.
Jasprit Bumrah removed Martin Guptill for 20, but Daryl Mitchell, who made 49 off 35 balls, shared 72 with Kane Williamson to drag the Black Caps within touching distance of victory before he holed out to long-on.
Williamson finished 33 not out as New Zealand picked up their first win and severely dented the hopes of star-studded India.
Pakistan lead Group Two with three wins from three, while Afghanistan have four points and New Zealand and Namibia both have two points. India and Scotland are pointless.
India will likely need to win all three of their remaining games, against Afghanistan on Wednesday, Scotland on Friday and Namibia on November 8 – and turn around a huge net run-rate swing – to stand any chance of progressing. (BBC Sport)
