Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan hit the highest opening stand for India in Twenty20 internationals as the hosts took on New Zealand at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. The duo forged a stand of 158 for the first wicket from 98 balls.
The previous best was 136 between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir against England in Durban in 2007. The stand was finally broken when Dhawan fell for 80 in the 17th over to Ish Sodhi. This was also the third highest opening stand in T20Is.
The highest is between Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson. They put on 171* against Pakistan at Hamilton in 2016. Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman are second in the list with a 170-run stand against England at Centurion in 2009.
Set a daunting target of 203 in the allotted 20 overs, New Zealand were off to a poor start as they lost Guptill in the second over. It was a stunner from Pandya, who sprinted from long-off into what looked like a no man’s land and pulled off the unbelievable catch with a full-length dive and outstretched hands, and a slide that continued for a while even after the ball was in his safe hands.
One of the highlights was Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma’s epic celebration. Dhawan took the catch of Colin de Grandhomme off Axar Patel bowling and it is quite obvious that Dhawan celebrates in his ‘Jatt Ji’ style. What’s surprising was Rohit Sharma also joined Dhawan in the celebration.
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— Nakul Gupta (@CCdhanushree) November 1, 2017
Consequently, India beat New Zealand by 53 runs and took a 1-0 lead in series. This is the first time India have beaten New Zealand in a T20I from six attempts.