156/5 (20.0)
CR : 7.80
172/5 (20.0)
CR : 8.60
New Zealand won by 16 runs
Player of the Match
Martin Guptill
93(56)
19.5
1
A Milne to M Leask
Good comeback delivery. Inch-perfect yorker as Leask clips it down to mid wicket for just a run..
19.6
1
A Milne to C Greaves
Quicker length on the off. Greaves bunts it down to mid off and will exchange ends. And with that, New Zealand have won this contest. Brilliant from the Kiwis and they have now won their second match in the Super 12's.
Over 20
Scotland 156/5
Michael Leask42(20)
Chris Greaves8(10)
Adam Milne0-36(4.0)
NZ won by 16 runs
No one expected Scotland to put up a fight, but oh boy, this was much closer than expected. A 16 run victory for the Kiwis as they have notched up their second win in the Super 12's. Scotland are generally known to be a rough and tough side and they proved it here against New Zealand. Yes they lost the match, but for a brief moment New Zealand looked a bit worried when George Munsey was going hammer and tongs.
Chasing a tricky 173 on this slow surface, Scotland came out all guns blazing and they were gunning for an upset here. The duo of Coetzer and Munsey took the attack to the opposition and that is when Scotland believed that they can pull off a miracle here. But two wickets in rapid succession derailed their chase. It was one of those contest where every Scottish batter chipped in with valuable runs, but just couldn't continue to notch-up something big here.
The introduction of the spin duo of Sodhi and Santner tighten the screws on the scoring rate as Scotland found it hard to pierce the gaps at will. But with wickets tumbling at regular intervals, Scotland were always behind the scoring rate. But here comes Leask in the picture and he almost pulled off something special here. The dynamic batter played without fear when the others just couldn't come to the terms with the pitch and the bowling. In the end, Leask put in a valiant effort and remained unbeaten on 42 as his side couldn't cross the final hurdle here in Dubai.
Chasing a tricky 173 on this slow surface, Scotland came out all guns blazing and they were gunning for an upset here. The duo of Coetzer and Munsey took the attack to the opposition and that is when Scotland believed that they can pull off a miracle here. But two wickets in rapid succession derailed their chase. It was one of those contest where every Scottish batter chipped in with valuable runs, but just couldn't continue to notch-up something big here.
The introduction of the spin duo of Sodhi and Santner tighten the screws on the scoring rate as Scotland found it hard to pierce the gaps at will. But with wickets tumbling at regular intervals, Scotland were always behind the scoring rate. But here comes Leask in the picture and he almost pulled off something special here. The dynamic batter played without fear when the others just couldn't come to the terms with the pitch and the bowling. In the end, Leask put in a valiant effort and remained unbeaten on 42 as his side couldn't cross the final hurdle here in Dubai.
Martin Guptill bags the Player of the Match award for his exceptional knock of 93 from 56 deliveries.
Martin Guptill: " We have a day off tomorrow, so I won't be doing much then. We didn’t have a great start, losing 3 wickets in the powerplay. Glenn and I, assed the situation and played according to it. We have played a lot together and put up a lot of partnerships for Auckland. A few missed balls and we were able to get them away and get some momentum. It’s not going to be easy against Afghanistan, they are match-winners as well so we will not take them lightly"
Kyle Coetzer | Scotland Skipper: "We need to get back to the drawing board and look at the opportunities we failed to grab today. Of all the pitches we have played on, this is the best pitch we have played on. I don't like bowling bowlers 2-3 overs on a trot in a T20 game and I kept making bowling changes. I guess we have to look where it went wrong. Mark Watt was brilliant with his bowling and his variations of bowling wide of the crease, bowling from the back of the crease. I guess he is having a fantastic tournament so far. At the halfway stage, we were actually ahead of New Zealand but just couldn't get across the line in the end."
Kane Williamson: "Yes, we were a bit under pressure. This was a different surface and we had to adapt to the conditions. Credit to Scotland who played well and put the balls out of the park beautifully. He is a huge player for us (Guptill). He was able to make a key contribution tonight and that partnership between him and Phillips was crucial tonight. It was hot today (All laughs), we have a day's rest before the next game. Every game is valuable (Talking about the game against Afghanistan). We will take it one game at a time."
That's all for the coverage of this game. Switch tabs to see the live coverage of the India-Afghanistan game. Till the next time, it's a ta-ta and a goodbye from me, Anurag Dasgupta and my co-commentators. Anurag Singh and Akshay Bhide.