File image of India
The hearts are racing as India's must-win match against New Zealand on Sunday in Dubai is inching closer. Having lost their respective opening games, both India and New Zealand are badly searching for a win to keep their chances alive in the tournament.
Ahead of India-New Zealand high octane clash in Dubai, here we walk through all their matches from the previous editions of the T20 World Cup.
It is quite surprising that the India-New Zealand rivalry in T20 World Cups has been very handpicked. In fact, the two cricketing nations have locked horns only twice in the previous editions of the T20 World Cup.
T20 World Cup 2007
The league match between India and New Zealand in Johannesburg saw Daniel Vettori's New Zealand emerge victorious by 10 runs. Winning the toss, India put New Zealand to bat first. After an early hiccup for just one run, Brendon McCullum 45 (31) and Peter Fulton 21 (23) kept the Kiwis going. The late cameos from Craig McMillan 44 (23), Jacob Oram 35 (15) and Vettori's 15 (5) enabled the Black Caps to reach a handsome total of 190 runs. With the ball, Harbhajan Singh (4-0-24-2) and RP Singh (4-0-29-2) were impressive.
In return, Indian openers- Gautam Gambhir 51 (33) and Virender Sehwag 40 (17) gave India an explosive start. However, India's subsequent batting line-up couldn't take the scoreboard deep. Vettori's four wickets for just 20 runs not just troubled the Indian team but also earned him the player of the match award.
T20 World Cup 2016
India-New Zealand league game in Nagpur was a one-sided contest that was won by New Zealand won by 47 runs. Electing to bat after winning the toss, New Zealand were off to a poor start. After the failure of the top-order batsmen, Corey Anderson's 34 (42) and little contributions from subsequent batsmen guided Kiwis to a total of 126 runs. The Indian bowling unit's limelight was hogged by Jasprit Bumrah who returned with an economy of 3.75 and took a wicket.
In the chase, India nearly flopped as the entire unit was bundled for just 79 runs. Barring MS Dhoni's 30 (30) and Virat Kohli's 23 (27), the entire unit scored just single-digit scores. Kiwis bowlers- Mitchell Santner (4-0-11-4) and Ish Sodhi (4-0-18-3) did the trick for the black caps and attracted them the win. Santner was adjudged as the player of the match courtesy of his four-fer.
