New Zealand beat Aussies in thriller

The result: New Zealand 8-142 beat Australia 9-134 by eight runs

The match in a tweet: Black Caps the team to beat! #NZ make it 2/2 with a gutsy 8-run win over #AUS, who lost their way in the middle overs on a turning track 

The hero: Mitchell Santner was outstanding against India in Nagpur and he brought that form with him to Dharamshala with another superb display of spin bowling. It takes a fair delivery to beat the outside edge of Steve Smith's bat, but that's what the 24-year-old produced to have the Aussie skipper stumped. He then disposed of Smith's deputy – David Warner caught on the rope to the left-arm orthodox. After three overs, Santner had the figures 2-15, but he took some stick in his final six balls to end up with 2-30 from four. Ish Sodhi – Santner's leg-spinning partner in crime – was equally impressive with 1-14 from four overs, and got the big wicket of Glenn Maxwell.

The turning point: While Watson was the first to go for the Australians, Khawaja's run out swung the momentum of the match in the Black Caps' favour. Khawaja was in T20 autopilot when he was run out from the last ball of the ninth over. It meant Australia lost their set batsman, one who had deciphered the pace and bounce of the wicket, and when David Warner was out caught seven balls later, too much was asked of the lower order.

The supporting cast: Martin Guptill (39 off 27) welcomed Ashton Agar to the crease with two huge sixes (both off full tosses) to get the Kiwis innings off to a flyer. With scoring easiest against the new ball, Guptill's early assault was crucial, and gave New Zealand those extra runs in the powerplay that proved the difference. Mitchell McClenaghan was also impressive with 3- 17, taking the wickets of Mitchell Marsh and Agar in the penultimate over to effectively kill off Australia's chances.

The consolation efforts: There was a lot of pressure on Usman Khawaja. The elegant left-hander edged out Aaron Finch – the world's No.1 ranked T20 batsman – to open the innings alongside Watson. He let his presence been known early, crashing his second delivery to the rope with a thunderous pull shot. Khawaja was cruising, collecting boundaries with classic stroke play, but his innings ended prematurely on 38 when he was run out returning for a dicey second run.

Mitchell Marsh put in an all-round performance in a losing cause. He was picked ahead of John Hastings, and did the business with the ball, taking 1-26 off four tight overs. With a sandy outfield and coarse centre square tearing up the ball, Marsh was able to move the ball in the air with reverse swing and make scoring difficult for the Black Caps. He then hit two monster sixes in his knock of 24, but it wasn't enough, out looking for his third maximum in the 19th over.

The fielding performance: Glenn Maxwell was extraordinary in the field on Friday. Patrolling the boundary like one of the many armed police inside the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Maxwell shut down anything threatening that came close to him. He made two difficult running catches look routine, and produced a perfect pick up and throw combination to run out  Santner. Steaming in from deep mid-wicket, Maxwell picked up the ball at full speed and launched it like a javelin to wicketkeeper Peter Nevill a foot above the bails. Simply brilliant.

The underarm! Calm down those of you in New Zealand, this one was legitimate and completely in the spirit of the game. Scampering through for a bye off the final ball, Black Caps allrounder Grant Elliott was run out by Australia wicketkeeper Nevill, who underarmed the ball from close range, hit the stumps, and executed the dismissal.

The shot: Eat your heart out, Maxi! Left-handed first-drop Colin Munro played a couple of outrageous switch hits in New Zealand's innings with varying degrees of success in his restrained knock of 23 from 26 balls. But he nailed one off Maxwell himself, switching from left-hand to right, but instead of playing his custom slog sweep, the 29-year-old delicately played a lovely late dab to the fine leg/third man boundary for four.

The spin: What spin? After watching the qualifying matches in Dharamshala and the violent turn in New Zealand's win over India in Nagpur, everybody in the know thought Friday's pitch would spin. It was non-existent in the first innings, with Australia's primary spinners, Adam Zampa and Agar, bowling only two overs between them. But the Black Caps, as they did so well on Tuesday, managed to get the ball to grip and bite once the mandatory six-over powerplay ended. Smith was out stumped after running past a Santner delivery that zipped past the captain's outside edge, while Sodhi offered no boundary balls to keep it tight and push up the required run rate.

The wash-up: For New Zealand, one more win, against either Pakistan or Bangladesh, should seal a semi-final berth. For Australia, it's now sudden death. Smith's men can't afford to drop another match it's curtains for their campaign.