It should have been a straight-forward run chase but the top-order comprising Ishan Kishan (19 off 32), Shubman Gill (11 off 9) and Rahul Tripathi (13 off 18) had a tough time again in spin-friendly conditions. In the end, Hardik and Suryakumar took the team over the line.
With the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli not playing T20s since the World Cup last year, opportunities have been presented to the younger players who are yet to make them count.
Kishan has gone off the boil since his double hundred in Bangladesh while Gill has not been able to carry on his scintillating ODI form into T20s. The stylish right-hander fell while trying to pull a spinner for the second game in a row but was surprised by the amount of turn.
Tripathi, who is getting to play at number three in Kohli’s absence, was unable to take the attack to the New Zealand spinners.

The Indians felt the pressure and that was evident with the run out of Washington Sundar, who sacrificed his wicket to ensure Surya’s stay in the middle.
Since the asking rate was never an issue, India could afford to stutter in the chase.
A four after 45 balls, coming from Hardik’s bat in the 19th over, released a lot of pressure before the skipper completed the job alongside Surya who hit the winning four.
Earlier, Hardik decided to employ spinners from both ends in the powerplay after opening the bowling himself.
Wrist spinners Kuldeep (1/17) and Chahal (1/4), playing in a T20 together after a while, extracted a lot out of the Lucknow surface while finger spinner Washington (1/17) produced another tidy spell.
Chahal was left licking his lips after the first ball of his opening spell. It was a ripper that pitched on leg stump before beating the outside edge of Finn Allen’s bat. The opener perished two balls later trying to reverse sweep with the ball thudding into his back leg before crashing on to the stumps.
The in-form Devon Conway too fell to a reverse sweep as the ball kissed his gloves on way to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan.
New Zealand were soon reduced to 35 for three in seventh over when the dangerous Glenn Phillips missed a straight ball from Deepak Hooda in his attempt to reverse sweep the part time off-spinner.
Daryl Mitchell got a beauty from Kuldeep that came back in sharply to shatter the stumps.
New Zealand bat deep but none of their batters were able to apply themselves on a testing pitch.
Pacer Arshdeep Singh, who has been guilty of bowling too many no balls lately and Shivam Mavi, were only used in the death overs.
Arshdeep did well to take wickets in his two tough overs and conceded only eight runs. Hardik ended with figures of one for 25 in four overs.
The series decider will be played in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
(With inputs from PTI)

Along with the cash prize of Rs 5 crore for the team and the support staff, board secretary Shah also invited the entire contingent to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the third India vs New Zealand T20I on February 1 where the team will be felicitated.

India ODI and Test skipper Rohit Sharma, former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Head of NCA VVS Laxman were among countless high profile personalities who congratulated the Shafali-led team for the win.

In the final, the Indian girls outplayed England in every aspect of the game. They first bowled out England for a paltry 68 and then chased down the target with 6 overs remaining.

Pacer Titas Sadhu was adjudged Player of the Match for her excellent figures of 4-0-6-2.

Many noted personalities from various walks of life showed support and joined Bharat Jodo Yatra bandwagon with Rahul Gandhi leading from the front.
Since it kicked off from Kanyakumari, the yatra covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
Star-studded affair
With this yatra, Gandhi managed to catch the attention of his supporters as well as detractors and seen quite a few celebrities including from tinsel town and academia walking alongside him from time to time.
Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan who has been critical of policies by the government. Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt participated in the Congress-led march in Hyderabad. Actor Swara Bhasker, who is known for her strong opinions against the government also joined Gandhi when the yatra was passing through Madhya Pradesh.
Comedian Kunal Kamra joined Rahul when the yatra reached Jaipur. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan walked with Rahul Gandhi when the yatra entered Delhi. Veteran actor Amol Palekar and his wife, writer and filmmaker Sandhya Gokhale participated in the yatra in Maharashtra’s Buldhana. Actor Riya Sen also joined the yatra in Maharashtra. Actors Rashami Desai and Akanksha Puri also joined him.
Controversies galore
Controversies have been part and parcel of the yatra and it started with the BJP attacking Gandhi for wearing a Burberry T-shirt allegedly worth Rs 41,000 in Tamil Nadu to which the opposition party had hit back with a “10 lakh suit” barb directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During the course of 3 months, BJP continued to trade barbs, be it over the grand old party tweeting a picture of khaki shorts on fire or the ruling party taking a swipe over a video of Rahul Gandhi meeting a controversial Christian pastor.
Even Gandhi’s beard made it to the war of words between the two parties with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at a poll rally in Gujarat claiming that the former Congress chief had started to look like the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Rahul Gandhi was also targeted for wearing only a T-shirt during harsh winters. To which, the Wayanad MP said that the media is only reporting on his T-shirt while ignoring torn clothes of many children and poor farmers. He also said he would wear more clothes if he feels cold, which hasn’t been the case so far. However, he was seen wearing protective clothing when the yatra entered Jammu.
Will the yatra revive Congress’s fortune?
The yatra comes at a time when the Congress is facing its worst-ever phase in Indian politics. The party is in power on its own in just two states (Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh) and has been relegated to the third or fourth position in almost every state where there’s a regional player.
Due to its lackluster performance, several leaders have also questioned the party’s style of functioning, with the dissenting G23 leaders routinely taking on the leadership over Congress’s organisational structure.
The yatra is presumed to be Congress’s last-ditch effort to infuse energy among its dejected cadre base and revive hopes that it can be a formidable force in future elections.
However, whether the yatra will translate into any electoral dividend remains to be seen. A clearer picture of the impact on the party’s electoral fortunes would emerge in the assembly polls this year, including in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which were covered well by the Yatra.

India first bundled out England for 68 in 17.1 overs and then returned to knock off the paltry target in 14 overs to lift the coveted trophy.
“It is just a proud moment, its our first world cup,” said Trisha with stumps in hand after the memorable win.
The win on Sunday also reaffirms India’s dominance at the U-19 level with the boys winning the world title in the Caribbean last year.

India’s bowling attack, led by pacer Titas Sadhu and supported by leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra, set up the comprehensive win on Sunday as they blew England away with a clinical display at Senwes Park.
While Sadhu showed that Indian women pace bowling is in safe hands following the retirement of Jhulan Goswami with impressive figures of 4-0-6-2, Chopra too continued her dream run as she snapped two for 13.
Archana Devi also scalped 2 for 17, while Mannat Kashyap (1/13), Shafali(1/16) and Sonam Yadav (1/3) accounted for one wicket each as England were all at sea after being asked to take first strike.

Following a pep talk from India’s Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, India came out with a specific plan and executed it perfectly as England’s innings never really took off after being reduced to 16 for three in four overs.
Chasing 69, Shafali started with a boundary off Hannah Baker before launching Sophia Smale for a maximum. But Baker came back to get rid of the India skipper, who was caught by Alexa Stonehouse in the 3rd over.
Her opening and team’s best batter in the tournament, Shweta Sehrawat, also was back in the hut after giving a simple catch to Baker off Grace Scrivens in the fourth over.

Soumya Tiwari (24 not out) and Gongadi Trisha (24) then dug their heels in with a 46-run partnership.
With four runs needed, Trisha was cleaned up by Stonehouse, as Tiwari knocked off the winning runs.
Besides Shafali, Richa Ghosh was the other international cricketer in the U-19 squad.
Earlier, Sadhu bowled 20 dot balls in her quota of four overs. She struck in the fourth ball of the innings with a superb caught and bowled effort to get rid of Liberty Heap (0).

Spinner Archana then cleaned up Niamh Fiona Holland (10), while Gongadi Trisha pulled off a sensational catch to get rid of Grace Scrivens (4) to hand Archana her second wicket.
Sadhu could have added another wicket to her name but senior pro Richa dropped a regulation catch of Ryana Macdonald Gay, who had edged an away going ball.
The Bengal pacer, however, didn’t have to wait longer as she went through the gates of Seren Smale (3) next.
Macdonald Gay played a couple of hits to the fence to ease the pressure but in-form leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra then got into the act, trapping Charis Pavely (2) infront of wicket as England lost half their side for 39 in 10 overs.
Left-arm spinner Kashyap also kept things tight at the other end as Chopra removed Macdonald Gay with Archana taking a superb one-handed catch with a full dive at extra cover. India’s fielding was exemplary in the big game.
With England at 46 for 6 in 12 overs, skipper Shafali brought herself in but Alexa Stonehouse hit her for a rare boundary.
Soumya was then in action as her direct hit found Josephine Groves short by a big margin, leaving England at 53 for 7.
Shafali and Richa then combined to pile further misery on England with the latter producing a stumping effort. Kashyap then removed Stonehouse with Sonam taking a dolly at cover.
(With inputs from PTI)

The august ceremony has emerged as an event of national pride when the Colours and Standards are paraded.
The ceremony traces its origins to the early 1950s when Major Roberts of the Indian Army indigenously developed the unique ceremony of display by the massed bands.
“It marks a centuries-old military tradition, when the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield and returned to the camps at sunset at the sounding of the Retreat,” the defence ministry said.
(With inputs from agencies)