Tilak scripts remarkable turnaround as India take 2-0 series lead

Tilak Varma orchestrated a stunning comeback for India in Christchurch, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead over New Zealand in the T20I series. When Mitchell Santner's four-fer gave New Zealand complete control, India appeared to be headed for defeat. But Tilak and Nitish Reddy worked together to finish the job with one ball left.

After winning the toss, Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl without hesitation, taking into account the dew factor. Even though Tim Seifert slammed the third ball of the contest for a six, he mistimed one in the following over and departed early. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then dismissed Daryl Mitchell, who got a leading edge and was caught at cover. While New Zealand tried to counterpunch, India finished the Powerplay on a high note when Finn Allen missed a scoop and lost his stumps to Prince Yadav, who had replaced Mayank Yadav in the XI.

Losing three wickets in the first six overs, the hosts were forced to rebuild. They had only reached 66 at the halfway point, so there was still a lot of work to be done. It took them 20 deliveries to finally break the chains and establish a boundary. It was Glenn Phillips who kickstarted New Zealand's recovery when he hammered sixes in back-to-back overs before clearing Axar Patel over long off en route his half-century.

Bevon Jacobs, who scoring at only a run-a-ball, finally accelerated when he picked Prince for a couple of boundaries in a single over to go past fifty. The century partnership was finally broken by Arshdeep Singh, who dismissed Phillips and Jacobs, too, couldn't provide his side the desired finish as he perished off a full toss. Michael Bracewell cleared the ropes once in his two balls and then found the boundary to help his team reach 180, but the total certainly appeared to be inadequate in light of India's batsmanship.

However, New Zealand got off to a good start with the ball when Matt Henry bowled his first over first up. Abhishek Sharma hit a few shaky boundaries, but India needed a free hit to get going. Even though the openers appeared to briefly catch up with a flurry of boundaries, New Zealand pulled things back. Sanju Samson was sent packing by Jacob Duffy's slower backhand delivery, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi didn't make an impression at No. 3 on his return to the XI; despite receiving a reprieve, he left for just 4 runs out of 8.

Santner's introduction made things go from bad to worse for the visitors as the New Zealand skipper ripped through the Indian line-up. India moved Axar up the order after Santner removed Abhishek first. In his next over, he struck twice in the space of three balls to completely put New Zealand on top. Shreyas was outwitted and castled, and Allen and Mitchell worked together near the boundary to eliminate Axar two balls later. Naman Dhir was the only one who appeared to be batting on a different surface as he dealt in sixes. However, Santner came back to hurt India with the big wicket of Dhir at a crucial moment.

Needing 46 from the final three overs, India's hopes completely rested on Tilak and Nitish considering the fact that they were the last-recognised pair. And Nitish lifted India immediately with a six off Duffy and Tilak followed suit with two crucial boundaries to bring the equation down to 29 off 12. Tilak found the boundary three times and cleared the ropes once in an 18-run over bowled by Nathan Smith, effectively ending the match for India. Tilak reached fifty off the next ball before Nitish completed the victory, despite needing 11 from the final over.