Christchurch [New Zealand], October 22 : Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer hailed all-rounder Naman Dhir's explosive finish following Men in Blue's win in the first T20I at Christchurch, saying that it was magnificent to see him bat and he gives the team a lot of options with his all-round abilities. 
Despite a wobble in the middle overs, a 93-run opening stand between Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma and an explosive 42* in 15 balls with Naman handed India a five-wicket win over New Zealand to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series at Christchurch. India chased down 226 runs, their highest-ever in T20Is and Naman's quickfire knock helped his skipper Shreyas Iyer be a stabiliser on the other side in their sixth-wicket half-century partnership. 
Speaking after the match, Iyer said on Naman, "He gives us a lot of options, especially for lefty batsmen, or even the right-handers batting, especially on this ground, coming in and bowling those two-three crucial overs actually can change the momentum. And I personally feel that the calm and composed nature that he showed today, it was simply magnificent to see him bat."
Across five T20I innings, Dhir has scored 80 runs at an average of 40.00 and a strike rate of 285.71, with best score of 42*. In overs 16 to 20 in T20s, the all-rounder has scored 341 runs in 167 balls, at a strike rate of 204.19, with 34 fours and 19 sixes. He has been dismissed 10 times in this phase. 
Shreyas said that when the team started to bowl, he felt that the pitch was a bit slow and the ball was holding up a bit. However, the dew came into the equation and the ball started coming on the bat well. 
"When we started bowling, I thought it was playing a bit slow. The ball was holding a bit, and we bowled a little ahead compared to the hard lengths we should have been hitting. But as soon as the game progressed, we saw the dew coming in, and the wicket was skidding flatter as the ball was getting through and coming onto the bat pretty well, and that's how they got the momentum, and they reached to 220. Kudos to them for the efforts, but obviously we needed that kind of start, especially when you are chasing 220, getting to 80-85 in six overs, that is a tremendous start," he said. 
On the opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma, who started off with a 93-run stand, he said that the duo "know exactly what they are doing". 
"You do not have to tell them how to go about their business. They know exactly what they're doing, and once they get going, it is just about the momentum they carry forward, and today was just an example of that. So obviously it does not happen every time, but once they click, you see that they set a game for us, and the rest of us, we just come and steady the ship and see to it that we finish off the game," he signed off. 
A hard-hitting 82* by Glenn Phillips and powerplay pyrotechnics from Finn Allen and Tim Seifert helped New Zealand end at 225/4, their highest in home T20Is, against India in the first T20I of the five-match series at Christchurch on Thursday. 
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's return after four years was an underwhelming one, as he was carted for 49 in four overs. Arshdeep Singh, Mayank Yadav and Axar Patel got a wicket each, but each leaked runs in excess of 10 per over, with Glenn (82* in 40 balls, with eight fours and three sixes), Finn Allen (45 in 24 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Bevon Jacobs (31 in 16 balls, with three sixes) firing all cylinders. 
During the chase, Sanju (67 in 33 balls, with eight fours and four sixes) and Abhishek (29 in 12 balls, with two fours and three sixes) put on a 93-run stand for the first wicket. However, from 93/1, Team India collapsed to 122/4. Skipper Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel (24 in 14 balls, with three fours and a six) stitched a 45-run stand to bring back hope for India. Iyer (42 in 28 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Naman (42* in 15 balls, with five fours and two sixes) finished off the game with two balls in hand.