New Zealand win their second consecutive match in the T20I World Cup and this would boost their chances of qualifying for the semifinals from Group 2. But this was a hard-fought win as Scotland did not make it easy, fighting till the very last ball. With this -run loss, Scotland have now lost three matches on the trot and are now out of contention for the semifinals. Batting first, it was a Martin Guptill show as despite losing wickets upfront, the right-hander kept battling on the middle with the heat, gradually taking a toll on him. Keeping the hot conditions apart, Guptill starred with a 93-run innings off just 56 balls, hitting seven sixes and six fours in the process. ICC T20 World Cup 2021 Points Table, Super 12

Scotland did pull things back at the end with Mark Watt and Safyaan Sarif bowling tidy overs, in the end, to restrict the Kiwis to just 172/5 after conceding a flurry of runs in the middle-overs. In response, they got off to a good start with skipper Kyle Coetzer hitting Trent Boult for few boundaries before falling to him. George Munsey and Matthew Cross kept the fight on for Scotland but losing regular wickets did not help their cause. Despite a 20-ball 42 from Michael Leask at the end, Scotland fell short by just 16 runs and succumbed to their third consecutive loss on the trot. Let us take a look at some of the stat highlights of this match:

#Martin Guptill became the first player to be dismissed for 93 in Men's T2OIs.

#Guptill completed 3000 T20I runs and became the second player after Virat Kohli to do so in men's T20Is.

#He also became the first player to hit 150 T20I sixes.

#Mark Watt (1/13) is yet to concede more than 23 runs in the T20 World Cup this year.

#Scotland lost their third consecutive match in the Super 12 stage after winning all matches in the first round.

New Zealand would now shift their attention to their match against Namibia on November 5 while Scotland would take on India next on the same day.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 03, 2021 07:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).