Tilak and Reddy guide India to 4-wicket win over New Zealand in second T20

Tilak Varma made an unbeaten 51 from 26 balls to guide India to a four-wicket win over New Zealand with only one delivery to spare on Saturday in the second Twenty20 cricket international.

India took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

It won the opener by four wickets with two balls remaining.

The second match appeared to be slipping away from India when New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner took 4-21 through the middle of the innings but the tourists again found a way to win against the odds.

Tilak came to the crease with 112 runs still needed to overtake New Zealand's total of 180-5.

He put on 42 for the sixth wicket with Naman Dhir (31), then guided India home in an unbeaten stand of 69 with Nitish Kumar Reddy for the seventh wicket.

India showed off its depth after losing hard-hitting opener Sanju Samson early and teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi getting out for only 4 in his first T20 innings in the Southern Hemisphere. With five overs to go, India needed 68 runs to win with four wickets in hand and the odds seemed to favour a New Zealand victory.

But as Varma and Reddy stayed composed in pursuit of victory, New Zealand's bowling and fielding faltered in the last few overs.

India took 13 from the 16th over, nine from the 17th, 17 from the 18th and 18 from the 19th over as Tilak struck the last ball of the over for six. That left the tourists needing 11 runs to win from the last over.

Tilak hit a boundary from the second ball bowled by Jacob Duffy and, after a wide made the batters' task easier, India completed its chase with a ball to spare.

"I feel that every individual in our game is a match-winner," India captain Shreyas Iyer said. "Today we saw the example of that.

"Honestly speaking, when we lost consecutive wickets we thought that the game was going away from us but Tilak and Reddy showed immense character."

Earlier, Glenn Phillips and Bevon Jacobs made half centuries in a 116-run, fourth-wicket partnership which allowed New Zealand to reach 180-5 after a poor start.

New Zealand lost three wickets in the first, six-over power play, including those of openers Tim Seifert (7) and Finn Allen (16).

At the midpoint of its innings, New Zealand was 66-3 and it was clear there was not going to be a repeat of the first match of the series on Thursday in which 455 runs were scored. India won that match by completing the highest successful T20 run chase in its history. Phillips again rallied the New Zealanders as he did in the first match in which he scored an unbeaten 82 from 40 balls.

He reached his half century Saturday from 48 balls while Jacobs, cautious at first, made 50 from 41 deliveries.

Phillips finally was out for 70 from 43 balls and Jacobs followed soon after with 58 from 46 balls.

Associated Press