Hamilton: New Zealand signed off the T20I series with a statement win on Sunday, chasing down India’s 191 for 8 with 12 balls to spare at Seddon Park, but it was India who lifted the trophy after sealing the five-match series 3-2.
Put in to bat after New Zealand won the toss, India stumbled to 19 for 2 in the fourth over. Abhishek Sharma fell first ball to Adam Milne, and Sanju Samson, who had struggled for fluency, followed soon after, leaving the visitors in early trouble for the second match in a row.
Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer then changed the game. The pair added 93 runs in just seven overs to take India to 112 for 2, attacking the spinners and the seamers alike as the Hamilton pitch offered true bounce. Kishan made 61 off 32 balls and Iyer reached his fifty in only 22 balls, and at the halfway mark India looked set for a total well beyond 200.
New Zealand’s tall fast bowlers dragged the game back. Blair Tickner removed Kishan, Nathan Smith accounted for Iyer, and Milne, who had struck in the powerplay, returned at the death to finish with outstanding figures of 4 for 19. Smith and Tickner took two wickets apiece, and India, who had been cruising, were held to 191 for 8.
The chase began in familiar fashion for New Zealand, with Finn Allen falling early to Arshdeep Singh. Then came the moment that decided the match. Tim Seifert, on 13, offered a straightforward catch in the fourth over that Naman Dhir shelled at deep point, and Seifert made India pay in full.
What followed was brutal hitting from both ends. Seifert smashed 11 fours and five sixes in his 93 off 50 balls, twice clearing the ropes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar into the camera gallery, and shared stands with Daryl Mitchell and then Glenn Phillips that broke the back of the chase. He fell seven short of a maiden T20I hundred when an inside edge off Nitish Kumar Reddy crashed into his stumps, but by then New Zealand needed only a handful of runs.
Phillips, unbeaten on 65, saw his side home at 195 for 3 in 18 overs and finished the series with 341 runs, the most ever scored by a batter in a bilateral T20I series, passing Phil Salt’s previous mark of 331. He was named Player of the Series, while Milne’s 4 for 19 earned him Player of the Match.
The result gave the series a respectable look for the hosts after they had fallen 3-0 behind, winning the last two matches in Auckland and Hamilton. India, though, had already done the damage in the first three games, and captain Shreyas Iyer collected the trophy after the finale. The sides now turn to one-day cricket, with the first ODI of the five-match series at Eden Park, Auckland, on Wednesday.
Read our 5th T20I preview here: https://t20star.com/india-eye-4-1-finish-as-new-zealand-target-consolation-win-in-hamilton-series-finale/
Read our 4th T20I report here: https://t20star.com/phillips-record-107-powers-new-zealand-to-87-run-win-over-india-as-hosts-end-losing-streak-at-eden-park/
Brief scores: India 191/8 (Ishan Kishan 61, Shreyas Iyer 50; Adam Milne 4-19) lost to New Zealand 195/3 in 18 overs (Tim Seifert 93, Glenn Phillips 65*) by seven wickets. India win series 3-2.
