With the Super 10 phase starting, there was plenty of excitement around.
There was a shock right at the toss, when New Zealand left out their established pace pair of Tim Southee and Trent Boult and picked plenty of spinners.
3 spinners for New Zealand!!! I didn’t know there were that many spinners in the entire country#IndvsNZ
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) March 15, 2016
The game got off to a cracking start as Martin Guptill slammed a straight six off the first ball before being dismissed off the second.
Things seemed to be going the way of pre-tournament favourites India as even part-timer Suresh Raina got among the wickets.
Dhoni bringing on Raina to pick up Williamson wicket is like deliberately going to math exam without calculator and still getting 100/100.
— karachikhatmal (@karachikhatmal) March 15, 2016
Raina then produced a sensational bit of fielding to run out Ross Taylor.
Unfair that Raina has only 1 wicket to his name. That runout was purely his efforts.Brilliant flick back on to the stumps off balance #WT20
— Mohammad Kaif (@KaifSays) March 15, 2016
Jasprit Bumrah added to India’s advantage with an over of five yorkers that also produced the wicket of the explosive Corey Anderson.
New Zealand’s batsmen were struggling, and most experts were backing India, though some raised questions about the turning track.
New Zealand finished of 127, and a routine victory seemed on the cards for India. New Zealand’s spinners had different plans. In his brother Brendon’s absence, offspinner Nathan McCullum provided the perfect start.
Two early wickets meant it wasn’t going to be easy for India.
And the wickets kept tumbling as the Indian batting was exposed against spin.
Old jungle saying: pitch is the same for both teams! Looks like it’s spinning both ways today! #IndvsNZ
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) March 15, 2016
New Zealand’s three unheralded spinners took nine wickets between them to leave India facing a massive challenge in the tournament.
Spinners from New Zealand beating India in India. The world is genuinely flat!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 15, 2016
India broke some records, but not the sort they would have wanted to.
The target of 127 is the lowest ever India have failed to chase down in Twenty20 Internationals.#IndvsNZ #ICCWT20
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) March 15, 2016
MS Dhoni had some strong words about the batting after the game, as did the Twitterati.
It isn’t just the defeat that hurts, or even the margin. It is the manner of dismissals. 9 out of 10 soft as soft can be #IndvsNZ
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) March 15, 2016
There were plenty of jokes, as ever.
I can definitely say that Dhoni is more loved in #Pak than in #Ind right now
Siddarth Ravindran is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. Twitter @SidRavindran
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo