Lucknow

Star batter of India Suryakumar Yadav and captain Hardik Pandya held their nerves to guide India to a hard-fought 6-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second T20I encounter in Lucknow on Sunday.

The two teams are now level 1-1 in the three-match series.

Chasing 100, India got off to a bad start as they lost opener Shubman Gill for 11 runs. The duo of Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tripathi then handled the charge as they slammed boundaries at regular intervals. However, the partnership could not stand longer as Ishan Kishan was sent packing after scoring 19 off 32 balls.

In the 11th over of the game, Rahul Tripathi was dismissed on the stunning delivery of Ish Sodhi. Tripathi went back into the hut after 13 runs. India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and batters were unable to stitch up a solid partnership. In the 15th over of the match, Washington Sundar was unable to do much for his team and was removed by Tickner on run out.

Hardik Pandya then came out to bat. The duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya accelerated Team India's innings as the duo kept pilling runs while taking singles. In the last over India needed 6 runs to win.

Blair Tickner was handed the ball for the last over, the New Zealand bowler delivered some great balls but it could not stop Suryakumar Yadav from slamming a FOUR on the fifth ball of the over and claiming the six-wicket nervy victory for India.

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Opted to bat first, New Zealand was unable to score more than 99 runs in 20 overs as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Deep Hooda, and Washington Sundar all claimed one wicket. Arshdeep Singh bagged two wickets. Mitchell Santner scored the highest for New Zealand, an unbeaten 19 off 23 balls.