India vs New Zealand 2017, 1st T20I: Hits and Misses

After clinching the ODI series with a narrow 6-run victory in Kanpur, India arrived at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi with the aim of breaking their T20I drought against New Zealand. Upon winning the toss, the visiting skipper Kane Williamson chose to bowl first on an unpredictable surface.

Extra Cover: India vs New Zealand 2017, 1st T20I - New Zealand's sequence of dropped catches is SK Turning Point of the match

Riding on their luck, the opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on a record partnership for India in T20Is. Their 158-run stand propelled the hosts to a strong total of 202. Having lost early wickets, New Zealand's chase never really took off. As a result, the 'Men in Blue' cruised to a 53-run victory to take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series.

Let us now take a look at the players who shone and those who failed to perform adequately in the match.

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#6 Hit: Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan smashed his personal best in T20 internationals

Dhawan began rather shakily and almost provided an early window of opening for the visitors. However, he survived due to Mitchell Santner's sloppy effort in the field. From then on, the left-hander never looked back. Taking the attack to the opposition, he helped India off to a strong start. He took a liking to Trent Boult's bowling and unsettled him by unfurling a flurry of boundaries.

Even as Rohit was taking his time to get in, Dhawan was aggressive right from the outset. The dynamic southpaw's early onslaught allowed his batting partner to play himself into the contest. In tandem with the right-hander, he did not shy away from taking the aerial route and put the New Zealand bowlers under immense pressure. When he was eventually outsmarted by a googly from Ish Sodhi, Dhawan had reached his career best T20I score of 80.

#5 Miss: Trent Boult

Trent Boult's poor performance aggravated skipper Kane Williamson's woes

Trent Boult is one of those rare modern-day fast bowlers who excel across multiple formats on varied pitches. Admittedly, T20 cricket is not the left-armer's forte when considering his much better record in the other two premier formats. But his capacity to make use of the new ball as well as operate at stifling pace in the death overs makes him a key weapon in New Zealand's bowling arsenal. Eager to bounce back from the disappointment of Kanpur, the touring team looked towards their experienced pacer for early breakthroughs.

While he could have accounted for Dhawan were it not for Santner's drop, Boult was certainly not at his best in this game. Spraying the ball all over the place, the left-armer struggled to find his rhythm and ended up conceding a whopping 49 runs from his full quota of four overs. Among all bowlers who sent down more than one over, his economy rate of 12.25 was comfortably the worst. By the time he picked up the wicket of Rohit, the damage had already been done.

#4 Hit: Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was elegance personified during his blazing knock

Usually a slow starter, Rohit was a bit sluggish to get off the blocks this time around as well. However, once he got acquainted with the pace of the pitch, the elegant batsman showed his complete repertoire of shots. His breath-taking and languid stroke-play complemented Dhawan's blunt approach. Like his batting partner, the Mumbaikar also survived a dropped catch. Tim Southee was the culprit when the opener chipped a slower delivery from Colin de Grandhomme.

After being reprieved, Rohit made New Zealand pay by launching a splendid array of shots. In what appeared to be an earnest decision to increase his strike-rate, he targeted the boundary on a regular basis by taking risks. If he could not connect properly, the right-hander took whatever he could by running hard between the wickets. From being 25 off his first 28 deliveries, Rohit began to throw caution to the wind and plundered 55 runs from his last 27 balls. His dismissal on 80 was quite a fascinating event in itself.

#3 Miss: Colin Munro

While expecting the short ball, Colin Munro was not able to deal with a full one

Right from the start of the tour, New Zealand showed intent by reposing faith on Colin Munro at the top of the order. His blazing 75 in the deciding ODI was an apt demonstration of his propensity to keep the opposition bowlers at bay. Switching over to a format wherein he has an international century to his name, a lot was expected from the left-hander. With a daunting target staring at them, a Power Play blitz was imperative to shore up their chances.

Taking a cue from the ODI series which he seemed to have watched closely, veteran pacer Ashish Nehra started to attack Munro with the short ball. But the southpaw was prepared to counter the challenge. He did not look too comfortable against the particular length and almost gave his wicket away by dancing down the track. Hardik Pandya, who had grabbed a sensational catch to help his team see the back of Martin Guptill, could not hold on to this one. However, the drop did not turn out to be costly as Bhuvneshwar Kumar preyed on Munro's weakness by delivering an unexpected yorker which castled the stumps.

#2 Hit: Axar Patel

Axar Patel was the pick of India's bowlers in the match

While leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal could lay claim to picking up the vital scalp of Martin Guptill, Axar Patel effectively sealed the deal for India by dismissing Tom Bruce and Colin de Grandhomme in quick succession. On a pitch which offered a semblance of assistance for spinners, the left-armer varied his lengths and pace smartly to prevent the New Zealand batsman from getting settled against him.

Indicating that he also had subtle variations in his armoury, Axar set up Bruce by willingly slowing his pace. With the ball not coming on to him, the middle-order batsman struggled to force the issue. Ultimately, a slower one induced a poor shot from the right-hander. A ball later, Axar prised out another scalp. Upon shortening his length to de Grandhomme, the lack of pace once again resulted in success for the wily left-arm spinner.

#1 Miss: Tom Latham

Tom Latham laboured to a painstaking 36-ball 39 before getting stumped

Fresh off a breakthrough ODI series which had fetched him a whopping 206 runs from 3 matches at an average of 103 and strike-rate of 95.37, Tom Latham looked completely out of sorts when the action shifted to the game's shortest format. With not much T20 cricket under his belt, the lack of experience was reflected in his painstakingly compiled 39 from 36 balls. His crawl did not help matters at all for New Zealand who were already struggling to keep pace with the required run-rate.

Walking into the middle at the fall of Munro's wicket in the fourth over of the innings, Latham tried to steady the ship by forming a partnership with skipper Williamson. Despite the loss of early wickets, New Zealand needed a dynamic pair at the crease to counter-attack and revert pressure on the Indians. But the duo were not able to get their timing right. Latham, in particular, appeared to be ill-equipped to deal with the demands of T20 cricket. Apart from reducing the margin of defeat to some extent, the left-hander's laborious vigil only ended up heaping pressure on his own team.