Christchurch | Tilak Varma smacked 51 not out as India beat New Zealand by four wickets in the second T20I to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series here on Saturday.

Chasing 180, India slipped to 112 for six in the 15th over but Tilak turned the tables on New Zealand, scoring 51 not out off 26 balls with six fours and a six.

Nitish Kumar Reddy made a valuable 26 not out and hit the winning runs.

Mitchell Santner took 4/21 for the Kiwis.

Earlier, Arshdeep Singh (2/33) took two wickets but Glenn Phillips (70) and Bevon Jacobs (56) powered New Zealand to 180/5.

Scoreboard: India vs New Zealand 2nd T20I

India's innings:

Sanju Samson c Phillips b Duffy 14

Abhishek Sharma c Smith b Santner 27

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi c Mitchell b Smith 4 Shreyas Iyer b Santner 7

Axar Patel c Mitchell b Santner 11

Tilak Varma not out 51

Naman Dhir c Phillips b Santner 31

Nitish Kumar Reddy not out 26

Extras: 10 (lb-2, nb-3, w-5)

Total: 181/6 in 19.5 overs

Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-44, 3-56, 4-69, 5-70, 6-112

Bowling: Matt Henry 2-1-11-0, Jacob Duffy 3.5-0-41-1, Lockie Ferguson 3-0-37-0, Michael Bracewell 4-0-35-0, Nathan Smith 3-0-34-1, Mitchell Santner 4-0-21-4.