Seifert added 86 in 42 balls for the third wicket with Glenn Phillips (65 not out), who added to his Eden Park century with his fourth fifty-plus score in five games, and rightly claimed man-of-the-series as a result.
What’s more, Phillips’ 341 runs for the series saw him set a new record for the most in a bilateral T20 series, going past the 331 scored for England against the West Indies in 2023.
New Zealand’s attack was led by Adam Milne (4-19), as the Black Caps were able to restrict India to 191-4 from their 20 overs, albeit plagued by more fielding mishaps, as two more dropped catches took the Kiwi total to 15 for the series.
The bowlers across the park did excellently to haul India back, after the tourists seemed poised to exceed 200 runs when Ishan Kishan (61) and captain Shreyas Iyer (50) added 93 in 43 balls for the third wicket, and set a platform at 112-3 that the lower order couldn’t capitalise on.
Regardless, after both defeats in Christchurch came down to errors in the field, the Black Caps will ask what could have been after such emphatic wins in Auckland and Hamilton respectively.
Both teams will now return to Auckland, to prepare for the first of five One-Day Internationals, beginning at Eden Park on Wednesday.
In a series which has so far seen bat dominate ball, Milne backed up Santner’s decision to bowl first, by removing Abishek Sharma (1) with the first ball of his opening over, and Sanju Samson (4) with the first of his second, as India reached 50-2 inside the power play.
However, issues in the field saw any hope of the Black Caps rolling India quickly fade away. Kishan was given a life on 30, when Finn Allen couldn’t stay inside the boundary to complete the catch at long-on, while Iyer was dropped by Blair Tickner on 40, as the pair put on 93 in 43 balls.
Kishan reached his own half-century in 29 balls – with four boundaries in four sixes. And while he went, caught at deep midwicket off Tickner, while Iyer reached his half-century in 22 before he was bounced out by Nathan Smith (2-28) to leave the visitors 123-4 in the 12th over.
Naman Dhir was dropped on 14 by Milne off Tickner (2-38), and went on to hit four boundaries and one six in his 33 off 23. But once he fell to Tickner, Milne returned to strike twice in the final over and restrict India to 191-8 when a chase of more than 200 appeared certain.
In response, the Black Caps struggled early, losing Allen (2) in the second over, and limping to 15-1 halfway through the power play, as the required run rate climbed above 10. After an inside edge past the stumps on one, Seifert was given a life on 13 when he was dropped by Dhir at third man, and made it count by clearing the ropes three times to reach 59-1 before the fielders went back.
India also did themselves no favours, by burning both of their reviews on Daryl Mitchell when he was on 0 and 14 respectively. Seifert and Mitchell (29) added 72 in 42 balls for the second wicket – with 42 of those runs coming in sixes.
Once Mitchell fell, caught at long-off by Abishek at 82-2, Seifert took over and raised his 50 by ramping Nitish Kumar Reddy over the keeper for his fourth six of the innings to reach his milestone from 34 balls as New Zealand reached halfway at 96-2.
Another Seifert inside edge past the stumps raised New Zealand’s 150, before Phillips bookended a dropped catch off Chakravarthy with back-to-back sixes to take the target to less than a run a ball.
A cover drive off Reddy took Seifert into the 90s, only to drag on next ball. But walking off at 168-3, and with 24 needed off the last 27 balls, Seifert had more than done his job, as Phillips notched 50 in 29 balls to get the Black Caps home comfortably.
India 191-8 (Kishan 61, Iyer 50; Milne 4-19)
New Zealand 195-3 (Seifert 93, Phillips 65 not out; Reddy 1-19)
New Zealand win by seven wickets
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.
