India beat New Zealand by 7 wickets to seal T20 series

Ranchi: India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series here on Friday.

Opting to bowl, India produced a decent bowling effort to restrict New Zealand to a modest 153 for six.

Harshal Patel shone bright with figures of 2 for 25, while veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (1/19), Axar Patel (1/26), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/39) and Deepak Chahar (1/42) picked up a wicket each.

Glenn Phillips (34 off 21), Martin Guptill (31 off 15) and Daryl Mitchell (31 off 28) were notable contributors for New Zealand.

India chased down the target with consummate ease with K L Rahul (65 off 49) and skipper Rohit Sharma (55 off 36) stitching 117 runs for the opening wicket.

India, thus, took a 2-0 lead in the series, having won the first match by five wickets in Jaipur.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand: 153 for 6 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 34, Martin Guptill 31, Daryl Mitchell 31; Harshal Patel 2/25).

India: 155 for 3 in 17.2 overs (KL Rahul 65, Rohit Sharma 55; Tim Southee 3/16).