India triumphed over New Zealand in the second T20I match of the three-match series, winning by 6 wickets at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
The Indian team, led by Hardik Pandya, put on an impressive performance with both their bowling and batting.
The match began with New Zealand winning the toss and electing to bat first.
However, things quickly went awry for them as they lost four wickets by the 10th over, with a score of just 48.
None of the Kiwi batters were able to reach the 20-run mark, with captain Mitchell Santner leading the team with 19 runs.
The Indian bowlers were relentless, with Chahal making the first breakthrough by getting Finn Allen out with a deflection off his right leg.
In the next over, Devon Conway attempted a reverse-sweep against Washington Sundar, however, the ball brushed his wrist and lobbed to Ishan Kishan for an easy catch.
Glenn Phillips also struggled against the spin and tried the reverse-sweep, which ended up exposing nearly all three stumps to an innocuous Hooda delivery, resulting in him getting bowled.
This left New Zealand in a precarious position at 35 for 3 in the seventh over.
The rest of the New Zealand batters also found it difficult to score runs and wickets fell at regular intervals.
The second-best score was made by Mark Chapman and Michael Bracewell, who both scored 14 runs each.
Arshdeep was the top wicket-taker for the Indian side, grabbing 2 wickets, while Hardik, Kuldeep, Chahal, Hooda, and Sundar all grabbed 1 wicket each.
The Indian bowlers put on a clinical performance, not allowing the New Zealand batsmen to get comfortable on the wicket and ultimately restricting them to a low score.
In response, the Indian team struggled to get runs on the board early on, losing wickets at regular intervals.
Interestingly, Jacob Duffy bowled the first over of the chase but from there till the 18th over, New Zealand bowled only spin from both ends.
Opener Shubman Gill hit a boundary in the first over, but was caught out in the deep off Michael Bracewell’s bowling.
Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tripathi attempted to steady the ship with occasional boundaries, but both were dismissed, leaving India still needing 50 runs to win.
Ishan Kishan struggled and was run out for 19 off 32 balls by an excellent piece of fielding from Santner and Phillips.
With the pressure mounting, Suryakumar Yadav and skipper Hardik Pandya took charge, with Suryakumar finishing the game in style with a boundary in the final over.
The match was nail-biting till the end, with the Kiwi spinners putting up a strong fight, but ultimately India emerged victorious.
The series is now tied at 1-1, with the final match to be played on February 1st at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to determine the winner.
India 101 for 4 (Suryakumar 26*, Bracewell 1-13) beat New Zealand 99 for 8 (Santner 19*, Arshdeep 2-7 Chahal 1-4) by six wickets
