The capacity crowd in Ranchi had many reasons to cheer on Friday night despite New Zealand’s victory over India in the first T20I courtesy of Washington Sundar’s incredible performance in all three departments of the game, Suryakumar Yadav’s batting even in a difficult situation but none of them came to close to the noise they created seeing their own MS Dhoni on the big screen.
Camera tuned towards to MS Dhoni, who was there to watch the series opener with his wife Sakshi, briefly during the New Zealand innings, which was enough to send the Ranchi crowd into a frenzy. Dhoni acknowledged the crowd with a quick wave of the hand only to turn up the decibels by a few notches.
New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, during a post-match show on Star Sports, was asked about the crazy fan following Dhoni continues to have even a couple of years after his international retirement. The right-arm seam bowler and left-handed batter came up with a stunning reply.
“It’s a great feeling actually. You sort of feel, you can fly under the radar. No one is really there to watch you bat or bowl. Everyone is there to watch someone else. I always quite enjoyed it to be honest, coming to India knowing that the pressure will be on someone else,” Neesham, who has recently turned down New Zealand Cricket’s central contract to honour his franchise commitments, said.
The Hardik Pandya-led Indian side, however, failed to give a victory to Dhoni on his home ground as New Zealand romped to a 21-run victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Opener Devon Conway made 52 off 35 balls and Mitchell smashed an unbeaten 59 as the Kiwis posted 176-6 after being invited to bat first in Ranchi.
New Zealand, who suffered a 3-0 whitewash in the one-day internationals, restricted the hosts to 155-9. Skipper Mitchell Santner stood out with figures of 2-11 with his left-arm spin while fellow spinner Michael Bracewell and fast bowler Lockie Ferguson also took two wickets each.
