India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the second T20I at Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Saturday, and the match was won by two players who had every reason to think it was slipping away. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Tilak Varma put together an unbroken 69 off just 30 balls after India were reduced to 70 for five. Reddy hit the winning runs. India chased down 181 with a ball to spare and took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

The collapse came fast. Naman Dhir, the hero of the first T20I win, fell on the fifth ball of the 15th over, and Reddy walked in to join Tilak with the chase in serious trouble. What followed turned the match on its head. The partnership became India’s highest seventh-wicket stand in men’s T20Is, and it did so under the kind of pressure that breaks most lower-order pairs.

The Over That Changed Everything

Reddy said the belief never left the middle. He and Tilak kept telling each other that one strong over would swing the contest. Their argument was simple. In T20 cricket, one good over can move the pressure onto the bowler, and they wanted to be ready when it arrived.

India’s required run rate stood at 13.6 going into the last five overs. It climbed to 15.33 after the 17th over, with Tilak on 17 off 13 balls. The pair then took 17 runs off Jacob Duffy’s 18th over, with Tilak hitting two boundaries. They added 18 more off Nathan Smith in the 19th. That left India needing 11 off the final over. Reddy clipped the ball between deep midwicket and deep backward square leg for a brace and sealed it.

“It doesn’t happen every time, but you have to keep believing,” Reddy said after the match. That line sums up the chase better than any scorecard. The pair ran hard between the wickets, took twos off the good balls, and punished the bad ones with boundaries.

Hyderabad Has a Stake in This One

The pair were dubbed the ‘Hyderabadi boys’ during the chase, and that nickname gives Telangana a direct stake in this win. Two players from the region came together in a high-stakes international chase and delivered the result their team needed. For fans across the state, that is the kind of moment that gets shared again and again.

Tactics, Not Luck

Reddy was clear that the finish was not a lucky hit. He spoke about reading the bowlers, watching for bouncers that might set up yorkers, and keeping calm when the pressure peaked. He said the late surge came from keeping wickets and staying at the crease long enough for the right moment to arrive.

He also gave full credit to New Zealand. Reddy named Matt Henry and Duffy for a strong powerplay and said the way Santner and the other bowlers held things together in the middle overs kept India under pressure for most of the chase. The match went down to the final ball because New Zealand fought hard, he said.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir did not send out any special instructions during the chase, according to Reddy. The message, he said, had always been about self-belief. Gambhir did not push the batters to swing wildly. He told them to play their natural game, and the pair did exactly that.

Back From Injury, Ready for the Next Game

Reddy’s rise to this moment has not been smooth. A quadriceps injury kept him out of India’s T20I tours of Ireland and England, as well as the Test tour of Sri Lanka. He said injuries are part of the job for an all-rounder who has to bat and bowl, even in practice. He is managing his workload, he said, and he is happy to be playing for India.

He also turned up for an optional practice session on Friday to adjust to the extra bounce in New Zealand. India had only one practice session before the match. Reddy said the extra time helped him, and he described the bounce as good compared to conditions in India. The wicket also changes its nature in New Zealand, and he said he would study how it behaves before the next innings.

The teams now move to Wellington for the third T20I on October 27. India have the momentum, a 2-0 lead, and a seventh-wicket record that will stay in the books. For Reddy and Tilak, the message from Christchurch is simple. Stay calm, keep believing, and wait for the over that turns the game.