Seifert’s 93 and Phillips’ fifty carry New Zealand to a 7-wicket win in Hamilton; India take the T20I series 3-2

India arrived in Hamilton with the trophy already won and left it having lost the last two matches of the tour’s T20I leg. New Zealand chased down 192 at Seddon Park on Sunday with 12 balls to spare, winning by 7 wickets. Tim Seifert struck 93 from 50 balls and Glenn Phillips finished unbeaten on 65. India take the five-match series 3-2.

The chase began with a wobble. Arshdeep Singh had Finn Allen caught by Ishan Kishan for 2 in the second over, and India lost two reviews early in the chase. After that the evening belonged to Seifert. He reached his fifty from 34 balls, added 73 for the second wicket with Daryl Mitchell, who made 29 from 16 before Varun Chakravarthy had him caught by Abhishek Sharma, and then a further 86 with Phillips. Seifert hit 11 fours and five sixes before Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled him in the 16th over with New Zealand on 168, seven short of a century. By then only 24 were needed.

India’s innings: two fifties, then Milne

Mitchell Santner won the toss, the first time New Zealand had called correctly in the series, and put India in. Adam Milne struck with his first ball, Abhishek Sharma skying a catch to Mitchell for 1, and in his next over removed Sanju Samson for 4 off a leading edge to leave India 19 for 2 in the fourth over.

Ishan Kishan and captain Shreyas Iyer turned the innings around with a stand of 93. Kishan survived when Finn Allen’s juggling catch at the long-on boundary was ruled a six, and went on to 61 from 32 balls with five fours and five sixes, before Blair Tickner had him caught at deep midwicket. Iyer made 50 from 23 balls and fell to Nathan Smith soon after. Tilak Varma, given a reprieve when Smith overstepped, was caught and bowled by the same bowler for 6.

Naman Dhir (33 from 23) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (22 from 17) added 46 for the sixth wicket, but Milne came back to finish with 4 for 19 from his four overs, the cheapest spell of the match on either side, and India closed on 191 for 8.

How the series finished

India won the first three matches, the third of them in Wellington, where Abhishek Sharma’s 38-ball 113 settled the series. New Zealand answered with an 87-run win in Auckland on Friday, built on a Phillips hundred, and now with this chase. Telugu Scope’s preview has the background to the final match.