India would have liked to wrap up the T20I leg of their ongoing New Zealand tour in a befitting manner, having sealed the series earlier.
That didn’t happen, though.
After losing the fourth T20I by 87 runs, Shreyas Iyer and his boys were handed a seven-wicket defeat by the Black Caps in the fifth and final game in Hamilton on Sunday. India had to be content with a 3-2 margin.
New Zealand won the toss for the first time in the series and put India into bat. It was an ideal start for the hosts as pacer Adam Milne, who had a harrowing time against Abhishek Sharma in particular in the previous games, accounted for the left-hander as well as Sanju Samson to rock India early.
India could still recover, thanks to Ishan Kishan (61 off 32 balls) and captain Shreyas (50 off 23 balls) as the duo stitched a solid 93-run stand for the third wicket to get the innings back on track. The stroke-filled innings of both Ishan and Shreyas should also serve them well and keep them in the right mindset going into the ODI series, which begins in Auckland on Wednesday.
But once the Ishan-Shreyas pair was separated, the Indian innings began losing steam. New Zealand then could limit India to 191/8, a below-par total in conditions which got easier for batting.
Costly drop
Arshdeep Singh’s awkward bounce gave India a much-needed breakthrough as the dangerous Finn Allen departed with only nine runs on the board in the second over of the chase. Arshdeep should have had Tim Seifert too soon after. But Naman Dhir dropped a straightforward chance at deep backward-point when Seifert was only on 13.
Seifert, thereafter, quickly pounced on the Indian attack to finally regain some rhythm. Together, Glenn Philipps and he stitched 86 for the third wicket, which eventually helped New Zealand reach the target with two overs to spare.