Christchurch: At 70/5 in 10.5 overs, India looked down and out in their 181-run chase in the second T20 International on Saturday.
Naman Dhir breezy 31 (17 balls, 1×4, 3×6) raised hopes, but he also succumbed to New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner’s guiles and the men in blue were left scratching their heads at 112/6 – 69 runs to get in 31 balls with the last two recognised batters at the crease.
No problem, said Hyderabad boys Tilak Verma and Nitish Reddy.
Thanks to a magical partnership dominated by left-hander Tilak, India crossed the line with a ball to spare and went 2-up in the five-match series.
Tilak exploded at the right time to remain unbeaten on 51 (26 balls, 6×4, 1×6) and Nitish contributed a vital unbeaten 26 that came off just 13 balls.
2 in 2 at Christchurch ✅
📸 Snapshots from #TeamIndia’s landmark 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th T20I 💙
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/FZtUFIFWS2
#NZvIND https://t.co/7LkJnIgfJk
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 24, 2026
Poor Santner had the misfortune of ending up on the losing side despite a dream spell of 4-0-21-4.
At the same ground where India achieved a record 226-run chase two nights ago, batters found it much more difficult to score freely in the second game. New Zealand recovered from a slow start to post 180/5 thanks to Glenn Phillips’ second successive score of 70-plus.
The Indian innings failed to get the required momentum in the early overs as well, with Sanju Samson (4), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (4), Sreyash Iyer (7) and Axar Patel (11) falling cheaply.
But they had three explosive finishers in Dhir, Verma and Reddy to carve out a memorable victory.
BRIEF SCORES
New Zealand 180/5 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 70, Bevon Jacobs 58; Arshdeep Singh 2/33).
India 181/6 in 19.5 overs (Tilak Verma 51*, Naman Dhir 31, Nitish Reddy 26*; Mitchell Santner 4/21).
Result: India won by 4 wickets
Player of the Match: Tilak Verma.
Series position: India 2-0 with 3 to play
Third T20I: NZ vs India (Oct 27, 12.30 pm, Wellington).
