India’s first-ever T20 victory against New Zealand has resulted in Pakistan moving to top spot on the T20 rankings.
It was a historic day for India, who beat New Zealand by 53 runs in Delhi on Thursday to take a 1-0 series lead and record their first win in six matches against the visitors.
En route to their 202-3, Shikhar Dhawan was dropped on 8 and Rohit Sharma on 13, costing New Zealand as they posted 80 apiece. The pair put on 158 for the first wicket, the highest opening partnership for India in T20s. Their destructive display was ended by Ish Sodhi, who picked up all three wickets to prevent the hosts from posting an even bigger total.
The Black Caps only managed to reach 149-8 in their chase – 2-26 from Yuzvendra Chahal and 2-20 from Axar Patel helped slow down the visitors in the powerplay and middle overs.
Tom Latham was New Zealand’s top scorer with 39, while Kane Williamson and Mitchell Santner contributed with 28 and 27 respectively.
This dropped New Zealand down one spot, moving Pakistan to No 1, while India sits fifth on the T20 rankings. A whitewash series win for India will see the sides switch positions, with New Zealand moving to fifth and India moving to second. One win for NZ will leave the rankings as is.
South Africa are sixth on the rankings, six rating points behind India.
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