Dhir's 42* Is India's Highest Score at No. 7 or Lower in a T20I Chase
Naman Dhir scored an unbeaten 42 off 15 balls as India chased down 226 against New Zealand in the first T20I in Christchurch on Thursday, October 22. It is the highest score by an Indian batter at No. 7 or lower in a successful T20I chase. The previous best was Irfan Pathan's 33 not out off 16 balls against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2009.
Dhir hit 5 fours and 2 sixes. His strike rate was 280. He walked in at 167 for 5 in the 15th over, after Axar Patel was out. India still needed 59 runs from 33 balls at that stage.
He first shared a stand of 43 runs in 22 balls with captain Shreyas Iyer. Dhir made 24 of those runs off 9 balls. Iyer then fell for 42 at 210 for 6 in the 19th over. Dhir carried on with Nitish Kumar Reddy. The pair added 20 runs in 9 balls, and Dhir scored 18 of them off 6 balls.
India needed 8 runs from the last over, bowled by Matt Henry. Dhir hit the first ball over mid-off for four. He then hit the fourth ball for six, and that ended the match. India finished on 230 for 6 in 19.4 overs and won by four wickets with two balls to spare.
The chase was India's highest in T20I cricket. The previous best was 209. Sanju Samson scored 67 off 33 balls and won the Player of the Match award. Abhishek Sharma and Samson added 93 for the first wicket in 35 balls. Iyer made 42 off 28 balls. Dhir then finished the job at the end.
Dhir is also part of India's squads for the five-match ODI series that follows the T20Is. He is named in both the squad for the first three matches and the squad for the last two. The ODI series starts on November 4 in Auckland. The second T20I is on Saturday, October 24, at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.