Dube, India’s fire doused

Visakhapatnam: Shivam Dube shone brightly with a fifty of exceptional quality but it was insufficient to prevent India’s 50-run defeat against New Zealand in the fourth T20I here on Wednesday.

The clean-hitting Dube 65 (23 balls) batted all but his own in India’s steep chase of 216, but the hosts eventually finished at 165 all out as the Kiwis reduced the margin to 3-1 in the five-match series.

With Ishan Kishan sitting out with an unspecified injury, Abhishek Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav were expected to lead the chase.

But Abhishek fell in the first ball of India’s innings, skying Matt Henry to Devon Conway at deep point.

Suryakumar’s meek push was converted into a brilliant return catch by Jacob Duffy as India slumped to 9 for 2.

Rinku Singh (39) and Sanju Samson (24) tried to keep India afloat but they struggled to force the pace either in the Power Play or after that.

Rinku fell leg before to Zak Foulkes and Samson, who hit a delicious flicked six off Duffy, was foxed by Mitchell Santner’s straight delivery to get castled.

Hardik Pandya too returned without any significant contribution as India further slipped to 82 for five in the 11th over, leaving Dube and Harshit Rana (9) to save the day.

Dube batted fearlessly, and hardly displayed the pressure of an ever-climbing asking rate that hovered around 14 almost all the while.

Dube, who was saved by DRS from a leg-before decision on 46, raised the hopes in the Indian camp, biffing 29 runs off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi’s third over that included a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 6, 6.

The left-hander brought up his fifty in just 15 balls with a six over square leg off Duffy. The sixth wicket of Dube and Harshit Rana added 63 runs and the latter’s contribution was a princely four runs.

But Dube’s fortune finally deserted him when Rana’s rasping straight drive shattered the stumps at non-striker’s end after taking a deflection off Henry’s hand.

That effectively signalled the end of India’s chase.