New Zealand 190 (20 overs) beat India 180-9 (20 overs) by 10 runs
By Paul Grunill
Daniel Vettori
Vettori led from the front as the Kiwis claimed a vital win
Daniel Vettori produced a superb spell of spin bowling as New Zealand beat India by 10 runs at the World Twenty20.
Vettori took 4-20 as India squandered a flying start in reply to New Zealand's score of 190 all out in Johannesburg.
Gautam Gambhir (51) and Virender Sehwag (40) put on 76 in 5.5 overs but wickets fell regularly after Sehwag was caught and they came up short on 180-9.
Oram earlier made 35 in a crucial stand of 73 with Craig McMillan for the Kiwis after they slumped from 69-1 to 91-5.
The pair struck seven sixes between them but the innings ended in chaos with four wickets falling in the final over, including three run outs.
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New Zealand went into the game, the first Super Eight of the tournament, with a side showing one change to that beaten by Sri Lanka less than 24 hours earlier as off-spinner Jeetan Patel replaced Chris Martin.
But he was confined to the dug-out at the start as Mahendra Dhoni won the toss for India and chose to field first.
RP Singh struck in the second over when Lou Vincent mis-timed an attempted pull and was well caught by Dinesh Karthik diving forward at mid-wicket.
But Brendan McCullum played beautifully off front and back foot, collecting nine fours in his 45 off 31 balls as he and Peter Fulton put on 58 for the second wicket.
The introduction of spin checked their progress as Fulton fell lbw for 21, playing across the line to a doosra from Harbhajan Singh, who then had McCullum taken at wide long-on.
New Zealand had lost their way when McMillan and Oram came together in the 13th over, but sheer brute force served them well as they lifted the scoring rate.
Yuvraj Singh conceded 25 from one over as three sixes disappeared into the crowd and Sree Santh suffered the same fate two overs later before Oram finally lofted a catch to long-off.
Virender Sehwag
India were ahead of the game while Sehwag was at the crease
The final over began with Vettori (15) bowled by RP Singh and Shane Bond, McMillan and Patel were all run out in a final over which turned into a procession.
It was still a daunting target for India, but Sehwag set about the task with two fours and a pick-up over long-on for six in Mark Gillespie's opening over, and Gambhir showed little respect for Bond's pedigree by taking 18 off the next.
Patel fared even worse when he was brought on for the fifth over, conceding 20 as Sehwag hit three fours before driving over extra cover for six and it was a huge disappointment for India when the opener hit a Jacob Oram full toss to mid-wicket.
Vettori took a tame return catch and then struck a crucial blow when Gambhir, having struck a six over long-on to bring up his fifty, attempted a sweep later in the over but only succeeded in gloving a catch to the keeper.
Yuvraj only managed five before top-edging a sweep off Patel to deep mid-wicket and India could ill afford the run out of Dhoni for 24 after being sent back by Karthik.
When Pathan was bowled by a beauty from Vettori which hit the top of off stump, India only had the tail-enders left and although Fulton dropped Agarkar in the deep, it did not matter as New Zealand closed out the victory.
# Man of the Match Daniel Vettori:
"We did well to put a score on the board. It was quite tricky early on, but Craig McMillan and Jacob Oram got us to a defendable total.
"After their start I wasn't so sure but we pulled it back in the middle and our fielding and bowling was exceptional."
"It's a difficult game for a spinner, particularly with the small boundaries, so you have to be a little bit quicker and invent things at times, and I was lucky enough to get away with it today."
# India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni:
"We could have restricted them to 15 or 20 runs less and our bowlers didn't do too well at the end. That was the crucial part of the game.
"After the start we got we should have got the runs but in the middle we lost too many wickets.
"In the first match [against Pakistan], the bowlers took the initiative and in this match the batsmen did pretty well, so in the next match I hope we'll do well as a team."
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