Varma and Reddy guide India to four-wicket T20I win

India defeated New Zealand by four wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Christchurch, reaching a target of 181 with one ball remaining to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series. Tilak Varma and Nitish Kumar Reddy rescued the chase with an unbeaten 69-run stand for the seventh wicket after India had slumped to 112 for six in the 15th over. Varma finished on 51 not out from 26 balls, hitting six fours and a six. Reddy made 26 not out from 13 deliveries and scored the winning runs as India closed on 181 for six in 19.5 overs. The partnership carried India through a tense finish after New Zealand’s bowlers had repeatedly taken wickets through the middle of the innings. New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner took four wickets for 21 runs, including the dismissal of Naman Dhir, who had scored 31 from 17 balls. Dhir’s wicket left India at 112 for six, with Varma and Reddy needing to rebuild and accelerate. The pair’s stand was the defining partnership of the chase. The 69 runs were reported as India’s highest seventh-wicket partnership in a successful T20I chase, surpassing the 59-run stand by Yusuf and Irfan Pathan against Sri Lanka in 2009. The same partnership was...