Black Caps v India: Glenn Phillips blitz not enough as Black Caps lose first T20 to India

New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal during the first Twenty20 international against India. Photo / AFP

The Black Caps have fallen well short in a chase of 239 to lose the opening Twenty20 of a five-match series against India in Nagpur.

Glenn Phillips hit a valiant 78 off 40 balls and briefly threatened a fightback in his 79-run partnership with Mark Chapman, who made 39.

But Phillips’ exit in the 14th over off left-arm spinner Axar Patel ended New Zealand’s hopes despite a sloppy fielding display by the hosts.

New world No 1 ODI batter Daryl Mitchell (28 from 18) and skipper Mitchell Santner (20 from 13) came together with just over five overs remaining and 96 runs needed, which proved too big an ask.

The Black Caps finished on 190-7, with Kyle Jamieson surviving a Shivam Dube hat-trick effort in the final over.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy took two key wickets, including Tim Robinson, for 21, and Chapman.

India set an imposing target led by Abhishek Sharma’s 35-ball 84. Abhishek smashed eight sixes to get India off to a flying start before a late unbeaten cameo of 44 by Rinku Singh helped the hosts reach 238-7 after being invited to bat first in Nagpur.

Abhishek was in fine flow despite India losing two early wickets – his fellow opener Sanju Samson for 10 and Ishan Kishan, back in the side for the first time since 2023, for eight.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav put on 99 runs for the third wicket with Abhishek, making a 22-ball 32.

Suryakumar, 35, started slowly but gained some momentum as he attempts to end his recent slump in form ahead of the World Cup.

Suryakumar, formerly the ICC’s top-ranked T20I batsman, has failed to score a fifty in his 23 innings in the format dating back to October 2024.

He holed out off the left-arm spin of his opposite number Mitchell Santner.

Abhishek kept up the charge and raced to his seventh T20 fifty for India in 22 balls, but finally fell to Ish Sodhi after he mistimed a hit to long-on.

India lost a couple more quick wickets and the run-scoring dipped before Rinku cracked three sixes and four fours in his 20-ball knock to finish with a flourish.

Jacob Duffy finished with 2-27, including 14 dot balls.

Kristian Clarke made his T20 debut for New Zealand, finishing with 1-40 with the ball before making a golden duck in the final over when the game was already out of reach.

The second match of the five-game series takes place on Saturday in Raipur.

- With AFP