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| | GEO Sports | | New Zealand beat India to clean sweep T20 series | Updated at: 1523 PST, Friday, February 27, 2009
WELLINGTON: New Zealand beat India by five wickets, with the winning run coming off the final ball of the game in the second Twenty20 cricket international here Friday. New Zealand were 150 for five (Brendon McCullum 69 not out), with India 149 for 6 (Yuvraj Singh 50).
Thus, New Zealand made a clean sweep against India winning both Twenty20 Internationals of the series.
Brendon McCullum gave yet another masterclass in Twenty20 batting, keeping his nerve to shepherd New Zealand to a last-ball win. The match followed a similar script to the Christchurch game for 37 overs, with New Zealand completely in control, before Irfan Pathan's double-strike in the 18th over of the chase sparked India to life. From 28 off the last three overs with eight wickets in hand, it boiled down to nine runs off three balls. A calm Brendon McCullum slapped a couple of powerful boundaries, before a top-edge off the final delivery sailed agonisingly beyond the grasp of Rohit Sharma at mid-off to seal the victory. New Zealand's batsmen had a fairly simple task ahead of them at the halfway stage after their disciplined bowlers derailed India's big hitters for the second game in a row. Iain O'Brien and Ian Butler sliced through the top order, Daniel Vettori was at his best, and Jesse Ryder restricted India to 149.
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