1st T20I: India Herald Start Of New Rahul Dravid-Rohit Sharma Era With Five-Wicket Win Over New Zealand

India vs New Zealand: The home team kick-started their new Rahul Dravid-Rohit Sharma era with a five-wicket win over the Blackcaps on Wednesday.

Skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav produced sublime knocks as India bungled towards end before recovering in time to fashion a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the opening T20 International ushering in a new era in Indian cricket. Martin Guptill (70 off 42) and Mark Chapman (63 off 50) took New Zealand to 164 for six on a good batting surface. India's chase was set up by Rohit (48 off 36), who made his full-time captaincy debut, and Suryakumar Yadav (62 off 40) who came in at number three in place of rested Virat Kohli.

The home team was cantering to a comfortable win but messed up the chase in the final four overs.

In the end, with New Zealand running out of bowling options, the job was done in the 20th over bowled by part-time pacer Daryl Mitchell. Debutant Venkatesh Iyer hit his first ball in international cricket for four before Rishabh Pant got the winning runs.

The game marked the start of a new chapter in Indian cricket with Rohit as T20 skipper and Rahul Dravid as head coach. With both teams resting some of their key players as part of workload management, it was very much an even contest before the first ball was bowled. India raced to 50 for no loss in five overs with Rohit playing some delightful shots.

He got going with back-to-back fours off Tim Southee in the third over before unleashing his signature front pull on the final ball of the over. The seasoned pace duo of Southee and Trent Boult were put under pressure upfront by both the openers.