Seifert, Milne power NZ to 7-wicket win; India clinch series 3-2

Hamilton: Tim Seifert’s big-hitting self reawakened during a powerful 93 as New Zealand pummelled a low-intensity India by seven wickets in the fifth and final T20 in Hamilton on Sunday, November 1.

The opener Seifert (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 constructed around fifties from Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan.

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

New Zealand’s chase had a shaky start to it, losing Finn Allen 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 sixes in succession, and then eked out another maximum off Varun Chakravarthy, who was playing his first match of the rubber.

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

But Seifert, who 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 this series.

Once the power and timing returned to his game, the 31-year-old was a different beast, bringing up his fifty in 34 balls. He made the Indians pay dearly for the drop on 13, as Naman Dhir grassed a sitter near the ropes off Arshdeep.

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was carted around for 4, 6, 6, 4 and the first six measured 108 metre, 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 any consistent lengths to challenge the Kiwis 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 inner edge off Nitish Kumar Reddy ended his stay.

But Phillips, who fetched 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 pacer Adam Milne-led New Zealand managed to keep India down to a below par total.

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

Iyer (50, 23b) and Kishan (61, 32b) shared an alliance of 107 runs in little more than seven overs as India enjoyed a productive middle segment.

There was a bit of purchase for pacers in the track, but Iyer and Kishan were hardly bothered.

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

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

At the other end, Shreyas, who could not get a big score after registering his maiden T20 hundred against the West Indies last month, had no such teething issues.

The Mumbai man started off with a flicked six off Smith, and high caliber shots flowed.

Off-spinner Michael Bracewell bore the brunt of Iyer’s fury, getting creamed for 6, 4, 6 in a row and the last six travelled a 100m distance.

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

But New Zealand clawed back precisely at that stage, claiming the wicket of Kishan, caught at mid-wicket by Smith off Tickner in the 11th over.

In the 12th over, the Kiwis netted the big fish in Iyer, whose awkward attempt to pull Smith ended in the hands of stumper Seifert.

From that point, India struggled for momentum as Tilak Varma, Dhir, who was dropped on 14, and Nitish could not stitch beefy hits together.

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

It mirrored India’s early turmoil when they lost openers Abhishek and Sanju Samson for just 19 runs on the board in 3.1 overs.

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

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