27 February,2009 03:36 PM IST | | A Correspondent
Twenty20 cricket was at its best on Friday as New Zealand clinched a thrilling last-ball win over India in the second T20 International and win the two-match series 2-0.
The star for Kiwis, just like Wednesday's opening tie, was Brendon McCullum who steered them home with an unbeaten 69, including the winning run.
Needing 12 runs to win off the last over and then nine off three, McCullum struck two fierce boundaries to level the scores.
Irfan Pathan, who had pitched the last two deliveries up to the bat, bowled one short and McCullum mistimed a pull shot that went up in the air on the off-side. Substitute fielder Rohit Sharma, standing too close at mid-off to save the single, made a valiant attempt running backwards but failed to latch on to the catch and the New Zealand bench rose to celebrate their triumph.
Earlier, riding on Yuvraj Singh's 34-ball 50, India finished their innings at 149 for six, at least 15 to 20 runs short than what they would have liked.
Put into bat first, Virender Sehwag (24 off 11) gave India a flying start but once Sehwag holed out to skipper Daniel Vettori off Ian O'Brien in the fourth over and Suresh Raina (0) was out for a duck soon, the scoring rate was pegged back.
And despite Yuvraj's smashing innings, India never got the acceleration that they wanted. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28 not out off 30) could never really cope with the New Zealand bowlers, who made exceptional use of conditions conducive to swing bowling.u00a0u00a0u00a0
