K L Rahul, Rohit Sharma guide India to comfortable win in 2nd T20I, help pocket series
Ranchi, Nov 19: Skipper Rohit Sharma and his deputy KL Rahul stitched an enterprising century-plus opening stand to power India to a comfortable seven-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20 International and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series here on Friday.
Chasing a modest 154 under heavy dew condition, the Indian captain and vice-captain started off in contrasting styles en route to their respective half-centuries.
Quiet at start, Rohit stepped up in the middle overs smashing five sixes and one four en route to his 36-ball 55.
Rahul started off in a brisk fashion, and top-scored with 65 from 49 balls with two sixes and six fours in an 117-run opening stand that virtually sealed the chase.
The Indian skipper is now involved in the most century-plus stands (13), overtaking 12 by Babar Azam and Martin Guptill.
The duo got out in the space of 13 balls but by then India needed just 19 off 27 balls and Rishabh Pant sealed the issue with a straight six over Jimmy Neesham's head in the 18th over to take India home with 16 balls to spare.
The third and final T20I is scheduled to be played at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
Rahul made his aggressive intent clear from the onset and raced to 15 off 12 balls before his captain could face a delivery.
Rahul was middling the ball beautifully and played the role of the aggressor, while Rohit was happy to bide his time in the middle giving India a sedate and sensible start.
There was a brief lull in the middle with 23 balls without a boundary before Rohit suddenly switched gears just before the halfway mark.
Scoring just 16 off 18 balls, Rohit decided to take on left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and hit him for two sixes in the mid-wicket and long-on region in an over that yielded 16 runs.
Suddenly the equation looked at par with 75 needed in the back-10 and Rahul, meanwhile, brought up his 16th T20I fifty in 40 balls with a flat six off pacer Adam Milne.
Earlier, India rode on a tight bowling display by the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel to stymie New Zealand's explosive start and restrict the visitors to a modest 153 for six.
In a must-win match for the Kiwis, who are trailing 0-1 in the three-match series, Martin Guptill (31 off 15 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (31 off 28 balls) took the Indian pacers to the cleaners after being put into bat.
Cruising at 64 for one in the powerplay, the Kiwis suddenly hit a roadblock in the crucial middle overs and managed just 64 runs from 7 to 16 overs with Ashwin (1/19) and Axar (1/26) dominating the New Zealand batters in the dew-laden condition.
Skipper Rohit cleverly used Ashwin and Axar in the middle overs to restrict the run flow.
Ashwin was simply sensational with his variations as the New Zealand batters found it difficult to go after him.
Axar got the wicket of Mark Chapman, fresh from a half-century in Jaipur as the left-hander failed to clear the long-on boundary.
The duo's remarkable effort in the middle gave the pace attack some respite and newcomer Harshal Patel, who made his T20I debut four days shy of his 31st birthday, returned with impressive figures of 2 for 25.
Two days after his tidy display in Jaipur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 37 runs from his first three but made it up in his final over, giving away just two runs and also took the vital wicket of Jimmy Neesham that further pegged the Kiwis back.
The Kiwis were off to a flier in the powerplay with Guptill smashing his way to a 15-ball 31 (2x6s, 3x4s) after being dropped on eight.
That innings saw Guptill (3231 runs) surpass star Indian batsman Virat Kohli (3227) as the leading run-getter in T20 Internationals.
Guptill smashed Bhuvenshwar for back-to-back boundaries but there was an opportunity in the fourth ball when he mishit over the long-off region.
KL Rahul made a terrific attempt running backwards and nearly got hold of the ball before it slipped out of his hands.
After conceding 14 runs in his first over, Bhuvneshwar gave away 13 in his next over with Guptill smacking him over his head for a six.
Mitchell also joined the party as the visitors cruised to 42 from the first overs.
Deepak Chahar finally gave India the breakthrough before the spin duo of Axar and Ashwin restricted the flow of runs.
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Tharoor junks Rijiju's claim that he agreed Cong is 'anti-women'; hails his party
New Delhi (PTI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday debunked Union minister Kiren Rijiju's reported claim that the opposition party leader had agreed that the Congress is "anti-women", asserting that at no point did he imply any such thing and that his party has stood for women's rights and reservation.
Reacting to Rijiju's claims, Tharoor stressed that the Congress is totally in favour of women's reservation and prepared to have it implemented right now -- without linking it to delimitation.
In a post on X, the Congress leader said, "I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for Kiren Rijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing -- and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!"
"'That was what he meant', our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant. 'That Congress can be anti-women...he agreed in a way,' he added. I am sorry but I did NOT agree in any way," Tharoor said.
"The Congress has stood for women's rights and women's reservation under a strong woman president in Sonia Gandhi, initiated the Women's Reservation Bill, passed it in the Rajya Sabha during our tenure and supported it in the Lok Sabha when it was brought by government of India in 2023," he said.
"We are totally in favour of women's reservation and are prepared to have it implemented right now -- without linking it to delimitation," the Thiruvananthapuram MP added.
Rijiju's reported comments came while narrating details of the conversation he had with Tharoor on April 18 after the end of the three-day special sitting of Parliament during which the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lok Sabha.
Tharoor on April 18 had shared a snippet of his conversation with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die, and said the BJP leader conceded that “no one could ever call me anti-women”.
Tharoor had said women are by far the better half of the species - 'Humans 2.0' - and deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution.
"Just don’t link their advancement to a mischievous and potentially dangerous Delimitation that could devastate our democracy," he had said on X.
Sharing a picture of some opposition MPs standing with Rijiju in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor had said, "A little post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha with our charming Parliamentary Affairs Minister.
"When Kiren Rijiju explained why he and his party were calling the Opposition 'mahila virodhi', it was pointed out to him that no one could ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point…"
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The Bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 to secure Parliament's approval for the Bill.
After the bill was defeated, the Congress had said the "nefarious attempt" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to link their "dangerous delimitation proposals" to women's reservation had been decisively defeated in the Lok Sabha, calling it a win for democracy and the Constitution.
I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for @KirenRijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing -- and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 28, 2026
"That was what he meant", our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant. "That Congress can be… https://t.co/hkUsYgOY7a
