India suffer seven-wicket defeat against New Zealand in series finale

Hamilton: Tim Seifert’s big-hitting self was reawakened during a powerful 93 as New Zealand pummelled a low-on-intensity India by seven wickets in the fifth and final T20 International here on Sunday.

The opener (93, 50b, 11×4, 5×6) shared an 86-run partnership with in-form Glenn Phillips (65 not out, 38b) for the third wicket as the hosts replied with 195 for three to India’s 191 for eight, which was built around fifties from Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan.

Despite the defeat, India clinched the five-match series 3-2.

New Zealand’s chase got off to a shaky start, with Finn Allen falling early to Arshdeep Singh, but Seifert added 73 runs for the second wicket with Daryl Mitchell (29, 16b).

Mitchell did the bulk of the scoring, hammering pacer Prince Yadav for two successive sixes before hitting another maximum off Varun Chakravarthy, who was playing his first match of the series.

However, Mitchell eventually fell to Chakravarthy, with Abhishek Sharma taking a fine catch near long-on.

Seifert, who had recovered well from a slow start (14 off 15 balls), picked up the pace at the right time, putting behind a string of low scores in the series.

Once his power and timing returned, the 31-year-old was a different proposition, bringing up his fifty in 34 balls. He made India pay dearly for dropping him on 13, when Naman Dhir grassed a sitter near the ropes off Arshdeep.

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was carted around for 4, 6, 6 and 4, with the first six travelling 108 metres, the biggest hit of the match.

The 13th over, bowled by Chakravarthy, yielded 18 runs as Seifert and Phillips tore into the mystery spinner.

The Indian bowlers, too, could not find consistent lengths to challenge the New Zealand batters on a pitch that offered some assistance in the form of bounce.

Just as Seifert closed in on a maiden T20 hundred, an unfortunate inside edge off Nitish Kumar Reddy ended his innings.

Phillips, who brought up his fifty in just 29 balls, ensured that Seifert’s effort did not go in vain.

Earlier, skipper Iyer and Kishan rediscovered their form with well-paced fifties, but New Zealand, led by pacer Adam Milne, managed to restrict India to a below-par total.

India went through three contrasting phases in their innings — an early stutter, a middle-over acceleration and a rather lukewarm finish.

Iyer (50, 23b) and Kishan (61, 32b) shared a 107-run partnership in little more than seven overs as India enjoyed a productive middle phase.

There was some assistance for the pacers from the pitch, but Iyer and Kishan were hardly troubled.

Kishan was a bit slow off the blocks, making just 13 runs off 11 balls, but there was no looking back once he got his eye in.

The transformation began with a boundary to long-off off pacer Nathan Smith and a cut six over point off Blair Tickner.

At the other end, Shreyas, who had failed to score big after registering his maiden T20 hundred against the West Indies last month, had no such early struggles.

The Mumbai batter started with a flicked six off Smith, and a stream of high-calibre shots followed.

Off-spinner Michael Bracewell bore the brunt of Iyer’s fury, being hit for 6, 4 and 6 in succession, with the last six travelling 100 metres.

Kishan reached his fifty off 28 balls with a six off Bracewell, while Iyer, who had been dropped on 40, followed suit, reaching his half-century in 22 balls with a four off Smith.

But New Zealand clawed back at that stage, claiming Kishan’s wicket in the 11th over, with Smith taking the catch at mid-wicket off Tickner.

In the 12th over, the Kiwis claimed the big wicket of Iyer, whose awkward attempt to pull Smith ended in the hands of wicketkeeper Seifert.

From that point, India struggled for momentum as Tilak Varma, Dhir, who had been dropped on 14, and Nitish failed to produce big hits.

In fact, India managed just 57 runs between overs 14 and 20 as pacer Milne (4/19) kept chipping in with wickets.

This mirrored India’s early troubles, when they lost openers Abhishek and Sanju Samson for just 19 runs in 3.1 overs.

The defeat will also raise questions about Samson’s consistency ahead of India’s next T20 series in December.