Raipur, Jan 23: Captain Mitchell Santner’s unbeaten 47 and a 44 from Rachin Ravindra powered New Zealand to 208-6 in the second Twenty20 International against India on Friday, the highest T20 score recorded at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.

The total also marked New Zealand’s third 200-plus score against India, placing it alongside 219/6 (Wellington, 2019) and 212/4 (Hamilton, 2019), and ahead of 203/5 (Auckland, 2020) and 196/2 (Rajkot, 2017).

New Zealand's new opening pair of Devon Conway and Tim Seifert started scoring quickly, with their 43-run opening partnership coming off just three overs before losing the toss. Harshit Rana gave India their first breakthrough by taking the wicket of Conway (19 off 9) with a wicket-maiden over. In the next over, Varun Chakaravarthy also added his name to the list of India's first-change bowlers as he took the wicket of Seifert (24 off 13); however, this gave India a temporary reprieve in what was a high-scoring match.

Rachin Ravindra led the way for New Zealand as he added 55 runs for the third wicket with Glenn Phillips (19 off 13), helping New Zealand recover after losing their first two wickets early in the match. Ravindra remained the anchor of New Zealand's innings as further wickets fell at the other end with Daryl Mitchell (18 off 11) and Mark Chapman (10 off 13) both being dismissed soon after. Ravindra's innings ended in the 13th over when he fell for 44 (off 26 balls) after a fine display, hitting two fours and four sixes.

From there, Santner took charge. He timed his acceleration perfectly and dominated the final overs. He scored 47 runs off 27 balls and remained unbeaten, pushing the total well past 200. His calm yet strong finish helped New Zealand make the most of the favourable batting conditions.

India’s bowling struggled during this match. Arshdeep Singh had a particularly tough evening, giving away 53 runs without taking a wicket. Hardik Pandya was more economical, finishing with 1 for 25 from three overs. Harshit Rana, despite having a wicket maiden, ended with 1 for 35 from three overs. The spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy bowled a combined eight overs, taking three wickets while conceding 70 runs. Shivam Dube also contributed with one wicket.

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Brief scores:
New Zealand 208/6 in 20 overs (Mitchell Santner 47, Rachin Ravindra 44; Kuldeep Yadav 2-35, Hardik Pandya 1-25) against India

(IANS)