The Men in Blue couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year. A year which will have the world’s best team square up for the T20 World Cup late October in Australia (“India snatch another Super Over T20 victory against New Zealand,” Feb.1, Gulf Today).

What a solid start it has been for Team India. Kohli and his men have started 2020 and the T20 season with a bang. Two back-to-back Super Over victories and India carry an assailable 4-0 lead in the five match series. Should they keep the wining momentum it will be a whitewash at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui when they pad up for the final tie on Sunday.

After the Black Caps shot themselves in the foot, unable to get seven runs from the final over, Team Indian tightened the screws on the hosts in the Super over and took the match away from them, that also with a ball to spare.

While skipper Kohli and Rahul did the honours to win the fourth T20I it was Rohit Sharma’s heroics which saw India through in the earlier tie. Hitting two sixes off the last two balls, again in the Super Over, Sharma stamped his name in the record books.

The T20 World Cup is a couple of months away. But should India maintain the momentum, the World Cup will be the cherry on the cake.

Vishal Rathod

By email