Ashish Nehra announcing his retirement and India's dismal (5-0) T20 record against New Zealand had made the first T20 game of the three match series of some relevance which otherwise looked like fill-up tour exercise. India ticked both those boxes by winning the game with 53 runs and giving Nehra the last over of the game as it turned out to be perfect final outing for him in the blues. At the toss New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson asked his counterpart Virat Kohli to bat taking into account the dew factor. Kohli on the other hand named six bowlers including all-rounder Hardik Pandya in the eleven suggesting to put the onus on the batsmen by not giving them the cushion of an extra one.

Indian openers Rohit Sharma (left) and Shikhar Dhawan put on a 158-run opening stand against New Zealand in the first T20 at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi yesterday. Pic/PTI