New Delhi:
New Zealand received a tremendous boost in the first Twenty20 International against India at the Westpac stadium in Wellington thanks to a blazing 84 from 43 balls from Tim Seifert. Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor also struck some big hits as New Zealand went past 200. A late cameo from Scott Kugglejin helped New Zealand reach 219/6 at the end of 20 overs against an Indian cricket team who were missing the services of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, both rested for this three-match series. Seifert himself created a new record as he achieved the third-highest individual score by a New Zealand player in Twenty20 Internationals against India.
The exploits of Seifert, Taylor, Williamson and Kugglejin helped New Zealand reach 219/6, their highest total in Twenty20 Internationals against India. This was the joint-second highest total by any team against India in this format, with 245/6 being achieved by the West Indies in Lauderhill in 2016. South Africa slammed 219/4 in the Johannesburg Twenty20 International in 2012. This was the seventh time that New Zealand had scored in excess of 200 in this format, with 243/5 being their highest against West Indies in Mount Maunganui in 2018.
New Zealand also smashed 243/6 against Australia in Auckland in 2018 but they lost the match as Australia chased it down. The Kiwis also hit 214/6 against Australia in 2010 in a match where Brendon McCullum scored a century but the match was tied and New Zealand won in the super over. New Zealand hit 204/5, 202/5 and 201/4 against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and England in Dhaka, Hamilton and The Oval in 2013,2012 and 2013 respectively.
New Zealand have lost only once when they have gone past 200 in Twenty20 Internationals and that was in the Auckland humdinger of 2018 in which Martin Guptill hit 105 and Colin Munro responded with 76. However, David Warner (59) and D’Arcy Short (76) gave Australia a magnificent response and some magnificent cameos from Glenn Maxwell (31) and Aaron Finch (36) ensured Australia chased the target down with seven balls to spare. The aggregate of 488 runs was the second-highest in Twenty20 International history but it was a world record chase.
