NZ vs IND

12:26 PM local time (4:56 PM IST): So, a good win for India to kickstart their tour of New Zealand! It's their highest run chase in T20Is too. The next game is on Saturday at Hagley Oval, again, from 8:00 PM local time (12:30 PM IST). Do join us for that one, it should be another cracker! This is Sourabh and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda.

Shreyas Iyer (India captain): "Feels fantastic, we've got to forget about the jet lag now! But, I do feel that we were just a bit short of the hard-length mark, and that's where we gave away a few too many runs. Abhishek (Sharma) and Sanju (Samson) are totally experienced now! They know how to go about it. Obviously, it won't come off everyday, but on most days, they will take it away from most teams. Naman Dhir's calm and composed nature with the bat came to the fore tonight. He can even give us a couple of overs when needed!' 

Mitchell Santner (New Zealand captain): "We were clinical enough with the bat. We got the runs we needed. But we knew that we were up against a strong Indian batting line-up. Yes, we did slow things down, but in these conditions, we needed to take our chances and get better in the field. I do think that this will be a great series!" 

Sanju Samson is the Player of the Match for his knock of 67 off 33: (how does it feel?) Feels really good. Whatever contributions you make, if you end up on the winning side, just wonderful contributions from all of us. (conversations with Abhishek) We do have a lot of chats in the middle, there was a lot happening in the middle and me and Abhi just wanted to bat with intent and go all out. (how was the surface?) Ball was swinging around a lot, a bit too much in the second innings but off the surface it was coming off nicely. Me and Abhi (Abhishek) felt that we just wanted to hold our shape. You definitely think about your batting while keeping, I summed it up while keeping but it was very different in the second innings. The ball was stopping a bit off a length in the first innings, in the second innings it was coming on nicely with the dew. Really enjoyed it

12:09 AM local time (4:39 PM IST): India win by 4 wickets with 2 balls to spare! 

Sanju Samson 67 (33) | Mayank Yadav - 1/40 (4)
Glenn Phillips 82* (40) | Michael Bracewell - 2/37 (4)

A 93-run opening stand in 5.3 overs. A 67 with a strike rate of over 203 from Sanju Samson. An innings steadying partnership for the 5th wicket between skipper Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel. And then, a match-winning knock of 42* from Naman Dhir. Finally, some dew and a good pitch. India managed to chase down a mammoth total! In fact, it's their highest successful run chase in T20Is! 

A little bit of help was in store from the New Zealand bowlers, but, the start that the Indian opening batters gave, took all our breath away! Bad balls got put away, and some of the stroke-play was simply outstanding! Some edges off the bat helped the visitors too! 

Then came the phase with spin, when both Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner got in on the act, took wickets and stemmed the flow of runs. India's decision to send Tilak Varma at number 3 did not pay off, at all. 

It required some stabilizing to be done from the Indian captain and Axar, but even then, the wicket of Axar came at just the wrong time! Lockie Ferguson, who got the stick early on, bowled a good hard length delivery and prized the left-hander out. 

But the partnership between Shreyas and Naman Dhir, of 43 runs in 22 balls, took India to safer waters. In the end, Naman's composure took India home! 

19.4 Matt Henry to Naman Dhir, TOP EDGED AND SIX! India complete their highest successful run chase in T20 history with 2 balls to spare. Take a bow Naman Dhir, 42* off 15 at a mind boggling strike rate of 280 for the newest entrant in this Indian powerhouse side and he gets them home holding his nerve in Christchurch to seal the series opener. What an absolute humdinger of a first game to kick the series off, if this is how things are going to go then we better strap ourselves in because this series would be an absolute banger. Short of a length delivery around off, Naman moved across the off side and tried to just spade it into the leg side, got a big top edge and it flew over the keeper and all the way. Naman Dhir thanks the heavens and proceeds for the handshakes, have India found their newest hero?

19.3 Matt Henry to Nitish Kumar Reddy, Santner misses the flick on to the stumps and NKR gets a single. Attempted yorker ends up as a low full toss on off, NKR just plonks it meekly to the left of Henry who does not get a hand on it, Santner sprints in and underarms it towards the stumps but does not hit at the crucial juncture. A direct hit would have been very tight!

19.2 Matt Henry to Naman Dhir, back of a length around off, Naman looks for a cheeky little two with a horizontal bat tuck into the leg side. But Milne zooms across the outfield and keeps it to one. 3 needed off 4 now

19.1 Matt Henry to Naman Dhir, FOUR! The error ball from Henry and India are just one hit away now. Goes for the blockhole, misses, it is a low full toss on the off stump and Naman just lofts it over mid-off who was the extra man in the ring. One of his hands came off the bat handle but it was good enough to go to the fence