Yuvraj Singh made an emotional return to internationalcricket but India snatched defeat from the jaws of victory to allow New Zealandto win the Twenty20 series with a thrilling one-run victory here tonight.
Chasing a target of 168, the hosts were cruising alongcomfortably at one stage but faltered at the death to give Black Caps a 1-0series win as they finished at 166 for four.
The first T20 international in Visakhapatnam was washed outwithout a ball being bowled.
Men in Blue needed 13 runs from the last over but couldmanage only manage 11 in a dramatic finish which saw Virat Kohli's blazing41-ball 70 go in-vain.
Once Kohli was dismissed in the 14th over, the momentumsuddenly shifted as Yuvraj who scored 34 off 26 balls with a boundary and twosixes along Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22 not out) couldn't find the ropes. NewZealand's experienced T20 bowlers Jacob Oram and James Franklin used the slowerdeliveries to good effect.
It was Franklin who bowled a well-disguised slower deliveryto clean up Yuvraj, who played his first match after recovering from rare germcell cancer. With six required from last two deliveries, Rohit Sharma couldonly manage four with couple of doubles. Franklin took a bow and Indiandressing room were stunned in disbelief as to how they managed to lose thismatch from a winning position.
A target of 168 was respectable by any standards but Kohlistarted in right earnest as he hit a flurry of boundaries. He hit some lovelycover drives, a good straight drive, a lofted shot over mid-off as India scored47 in the first Powerplay.
Gautam Gambhir came cropper as he closed his bat face togive a return catch to Kyle Mills but there was no stopping Kohli as herepeatedly found the boundary.
Kohli completed a well-deserved half century off 30 ballswhen he charged out to hit left-arm spinner Ronnie Heera for a boundary.
