India and New Zealand finished their three-match T20I series with India finishing as comfortable 3-0 victors, but that doesn’t mean our combined team of the series is fully staffed by players from the home side.
Rohit Sharma
159 runs @ 53, SR 154.36
48 off 36 in the first game, 55 in 36 in the second and 56 off 31 in the third. In his first series as full-time captain Rohit was a picture of consistency, stability and excellence. Hard to ask for a better performance from your opener or captain.
Martin Guptill
152 runs @ 50.66, SR 163.44
Guptill and Rohit were a class above the rest of the pack this series. Both players as good as tied each other for total runs although Guptill’s came at a faster rate. His 70 off 42 in the first game was then followed up by 31 off 15 in the second and 51 off 36 in the third.
KL Rahul (wk)
80 runs @ 40, SR 126.98
A strong performance this series by KL Rahul which is to be expected by this point. His 65 may not have been rapid, coming off 49 balls, although it was more than enough to help India to a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the second match of the series. KL Rahul will also keep wicket in this side.
Suryakumar Yadav
63 runs @ 21, SR 136.95
A modest overall return although a fantastic match-winning innings in the first match of the series sees him included here. 62 off 40 including three sixes saw his side claim a 1-0 lead in the series.
Venkatesh Iyer
36 runs @ 18, SR 128.56, 1 wkt @ 12, Econ 4.00
Venkatesh’s rapid rise continues and although he had a relatively quiet debut series he also showed why he is so well thought of with a strong all-round performance in the third match. 20 off 15 balls with the bat was followed up with three overs 1-12 with the ball meaning he slots into the middle-order here.
Mitchell Santner
4 wkts @ 19.75, Econ 6.58
Santner bowled exceptionally well in the first and third games taking 1-19 off his four overs in the first match and 3-27 in the third. Even his sub par 0-33 in the second game was below the run rate of the rest of the innings.
Axar Patel
4 wkts @ 16.50, Econ 6.00
A phenomenal third game backed up a strong second game which had followed a below-par first. After two overs in the third and final game of the series Axar had figures of 2-0-2-3 having dismissed Daryl Mitchell with his first ball of the match, Mark Chapman with his sixth and Glenn Phillips with his tenth.
Ravichandran Ashwin
3 wkts @ 14.00, Econ 5.25
Ashwin’s long running absence from India’s white-ball sides has been a point of debate amongst fans for years. In his first bilateral white ball series since 2017, Aswhin performed excellently with the ball claiming 2-23 in the first match before contributing with another economical performance in the second, taking 1-19.
Tim Southee
4 wkts @ 14.00, Econ 7.00
Southee may have only played in the first two matches but his exceptional performance in the second T20I means he is included here. His 3-16 included the wickets of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav and were the only wickets New Zealand took in a doomed attempted defence of 154.
Harshal Patel
4 wkts @ 12.75, Econ 7.28
A wonderful start to Patel’s international career as his stand-out IPL season was rewarded with a call-up to the India squad. 2-25 on his debut (the second game of the series) was followed up with 2-26 in the next match where he also contributed with the bat, scoring 18 off 11 balls before being dismissed in bizarre circumstances.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
3 wkts @ 25.00, Econ 7.50
Bhuvneshwar’s series arguably peaked with just his third ball of the series as he cleaned up Daryl Mitchell with a beauty of an inswinger. From that point he was a picture of consistency as it was only in the second match of the series where New Zealand’s batters found some success against him.
