New Zealand beat India in 5th T20I as Phillips sets world runs record
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- New Zealand beat India by 7 wickets in the 5th T20I at Hamilton, chasing 192 with 12 balls to spare.
- Tim Seifert hit 93 off 50 balls, and Glenn Phillips made 65 not out to finish the chase.
- Phillips set a world record with 341 runs in the series, the most ever in a bilateral T20I series.
Seddon Park in Hamilton hosted the fifth T20I. Photograph: JaumeBG/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
New Zealand beat India by seven wickets in the fifth T20I in Hamilton today. They chased down India's 191 for 8, reaching 195 for 3 in 18 overs. India still took the five-match series 3-2 after winning the first three games.
A T20I is a short cricket match. Each team bats for 20 overs at most. This was the fifth and last game of the series.
What happened
New Zealand won the toss and chose to bowl first. They held India to 191 for 8 in 20 overs.
India started badly. They lost their first two wickets for only 19 runs.
Abhishek Sharma fell first ball to Adam Milne. Sanju Samson made only 4 off 10 balls.
Then Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer fought back. Kishan hit 61 off 32 balls. Iyer made 50 off only 22 balls.
Together they added 93 runs in just over seven overs.
Adam Milne was the star for New Zealand with the ball. He took 4 wickets for 19 runs. His fast, full bowling broke India's middle order.
Nathan Smith and Blair Tickner took two wickets each.
In reply, New Zealand lost Finn Allen early in the second over. Arshdeep Singh had him caught by Ishan Kishan. Tim Seifert then took charge of the chase.
Seifert hit 93 off 50 balls. He struck 11 fours and 5 sixes. He missed his first T20I hundred by only 7 runs.
A ball from Nitish Kumar Reddy hit his stumps late in the innings.
Glenn Phillips finished the job with Seifert gone. He made 65 not out off 38 balls. New Zealand won with two full overs to spare.
It was a consolation win, a win that came after the series was already lost.
Why it matters
Phillips broke a world record. His 341 runs are the most ever in a bilateral T20I series.
A bilateral series is a series between two countries. He beat England player Phil Salt's old record of 331.
"This is a nice feeling," Phillips said after the game, according to Reuters. He said he tried to play each ball on its own merits. He also said spin was the bowling that needed to be attacked.
Seifert's knock came at the right time. He had been quiet in the series before this game.
His 93 was his first big score of the tour. It gave New Zealand a chase to remember.
Dropped catches shaped the game again. Naman Dhir dropped Seifert at deep third early in the chase. The batter was on 14 at the time, and he went on to score 93.
New Zealand were also sloppy in the field. They dropped two catches and lost a wicket to a no-ball. Over the whole series, they dropped 15 catches, according to ESPNcricinfo.
India won the series 3-2 despite losing the last two games. They sealed the series by winning the first three matches. New Zealand's late wins gave the final score some respect.
India rested key players and tested new faces. Varun Chakravarthy played his first game of the series.
He came in for Axar Patel after injury earlier this year. Bhuvneshwar Kumar replaced Mayank Yadav.
Blair Tickner returned for New Zealand after three years away. He took two wickets in his comeback game. The tall fast bowler troubled India with his bounce.
A cricket match in progress. Photograph: HLloyd8/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
What happens next
The teams now switch to one-day cricket. The first ODI of the five-match series is on Wednesday. It will be played at Eden Park in Auckland.
India will want to start the ODI series strong. New Zealand will carry momentum from two straight wins. Both teams have selection questions to answer.
India were also in T20 action elsewhere this week. India faced Bangladesh in the Hong Kong Sixes 11th-place play-off. The short-format festival also saw Australia meet Afghanistan in the Hong Kong Sixes cup final.
South Africa and England also played in Hong Kong. Their game was the Hong Kong Sixes Bowl final. It was a busy day for T20 cricket fans.
New Zealand ended the T20I series with a smile, but India left with the trophy. The ODI series will show which team learned more from this week in Hamilton.
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