Virat Kohli said after the victory in Auckland - 'miser' bowler won the match

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India defeated Republicans and gave the gift of Republic Day with victory. Team India has taken a 2–0 lead in the five-match T20 series.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday praised his bowlers for stinging in their misery during the 7-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20 International match in Auckland. New Zealand could only manage 132 runs in front of the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja (2 wickets for 18 runs in four overs) and Jaspreet Bumrah (one wicket for 21 runs in four overs).

Bowlers proved to be economical

Mohammed Shami also gave 22 runs in four overs while bowling economically but he did not get any success. Kohli said after the match, ‘I think we performed well again today, especially with the ball. The bowlers took responsibility and controlled the match. It was good to bowl on one side of the wicket, so that we could stop the good New Zealand team for 132 runs which I think was not a competitive score.

India achieved the target with 15 balls remaining. Kohli said, “Due to the small score we batted like this (without taking much risk) but we think a score of 160 on the wicket would have been competitive.” Jadeja was getting a lot of help from the wicket.

Jadeja banned Kiwi batsmen

Kohli said, ‘The spinners were getting help and I think Jadeja was exceptional. Chahal bowled brilliantly. Bumrah was also excellent and Shami, Shardul and Shivam contributed very well with the ball but I think the more important thing is that we gave full support in the fielding.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson believes the wicket was tougher to bat on than the first match and scored 20 runs less. He said, ‘It was a difficult day. The wicket was much different than the first match. I think as a batting unit we needed to score 15 to 20 more runs to make the match competitive, but they are credited for the way India bowled.

Williamson disappointed by defeat

Williamson called India a world-class team that kept them under constant pressure. He said, ‘Their team is level in all the departments and in the middle overs they kept us under pressure. Despite scoring only 132 runs on a small field, we knew that anything could happen if we managed to get wickets early and put pressure like them.