A change in strike turned out to be a poor decision as India lost Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a first ball duck in the IND vs NZ 4th T20I on Wednesday. Sharma facing Matt Henry, danced down the track trying to impose himself in the chase. However, the left-hander edged it with the ball flying to Devon Conway at third man who completed a diving catch.
It marked the second consecutive game that India lost a wicket with the first ball of the run chase. In Guwahati, Sanju Samson was clean bowled with a peach for a golden duck. Overall, it marked the fifth time that an Indian batter was dismissed for the first ball of the innings.
In the IND vs NZ series so far, Sanju Samson had taken strike for the first ball in all 3 games. The Kerala batter struggled for runs, scoring a total of 16 while the rest of India's batting feasted on the Kiwi attack. With Abhishek scoring back to back blazing half-centuries, the two openers swapped strikes. The move proved to be detrimental for Abhishek, who was dismissed for a duck.
The Kiwis will be pleased to see the back of the World No.1 T20I batter. Abhishek has already tormented the Kiwi attack this series, with scores of 84 and 68 in the last two games. He has the highest strike rate this series, scoring at a mind boggling 266.67. Sharma has hit 13 sixes, 4 more than Glenn Phillips.
New Zealand posted a mammoth 215 batting first in Vishakhapatnam. The Men in Blue will need to pull off a record chase to have any hopes of pulling off a whitewash.
