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Tilak and Nitish turn 112 for 6 into a win: India beat New Zealand by four wickets, lead 2-0

Chasing 181 at Hagley Oval on 24 October, India were 112 for 6. Tilak Varma (51 not out off 26) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (26 not out off 13) added an unbroken 69 to win by four wickets.

Illustration of an India batter in blue and orange kit holding a helmet in one hand and a bat in the other, in a floodlit stadium.

India were 112 for 6 in the 15th over, chasing 181. They needed 69 more with four wickets in hand. Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy then won the match.

India beat New Zealand by four wickets, with a ball to spare, in the second T20I at Hagley Oval, Christchurch, on 24 October. They finished on 181 for 6 in 19.5 overs and lead the five-match series 2-0.

Tilak finished on 51 not out off 26 balls, with six fours and a six. His fifty came off 25 balls. Nitish was 26 not out off 13. Together they added an unbroken 69 for the seventh wicket. Nitish took the winning runs off Jacob Duffy on the fifth ball of the last over. Tilak was named Player of the Match.

The chase had not started easily. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner took 4 for 21 and removed Abhishek Sharma (27 off 21), Shreyas Iyer (7), Axar Patel (11) and Naman Dhir (31 off 17). Sanju Samson made 14 off 17 and was caught off Duffy.

New Zealand had made 180 for 5 after India won the toss and chose to bowl. Glenn Phillips scored 70 off 43 balls and Bevon Jacobs 58 off 46, and the two added 116 for the fourth wicket. Arshdeep Singh took two wickets, including Phillips. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prince Yadav (who bowled Finn Allen) and Nitish (who dismissed Jacobs) took one each. Tilak also took two catches, Tim Seifert and Daryl Mitchell.

At 112 for 6 the match looked gone. It now gives India a 2-0 lead.

Illustration: Telugu Scope

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