Samson, Iyer and Dhir pull off record chase against NZ in T20I series opener

Five days after a remarkably high-scoring series against West Indies, India went into another hit-a-thon in entirely different conditions, and came out of their T20I series opener against New Zealand with a nervy four-wicket win.

Set a target of 226 on a dewy Christchurch night, India looked set to overpower New Zealand entirely with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma putting on 93 for the first wicket in just 35 balls. Then New Zealand fought back, with spinners Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner taking two wickets each in a period of play where India got in a tactical muddle and lost 4 for 29 in 22 balls.

But India's batting depth prevailed in the end, with Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Naman Dhir playing crucial innings to haul their side over the line with two balls remaining.