New Zealand Beat India by 7 Wickets — Seifert's 93 Punishes One Dropped Sitter as the Series Ends 3-2
Dropped on 13 in the fourth over, Tim Seifert made 93 off 50. Adam Milne's 4 for 19 had already kept India to 191, and Glenn Phillips finished unbeaten with a record 341 runs for the series.
Match Summary
| India | 191/8 (20 overs): Ishan Kishan 61 (32), Shreyas Iyer 50 (23), Naman Dhir 33 (23) |
| New Zealand bowling | Adam Milne 4-0-19-4, Nathan Smith 3-0-28-2, Blair Tickner 4-0-38-2 |
| New Zealand | 195/3 (18 overs): Tim Seifert 93 (50), Glenn Phillips 65* (38), Daryl Mitchell 29 (16) |
| India bowling | Arshdeep Singh 4-0-40-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-45-1, Nitish Kumar Reddy 2-0-19-1 |
| Result | New Zealand won by 7 wickets (12 balls remaining). India win the series 3-2 |
| Toss | New Zealand, chose to field |
| Player of the Match | Adam Milne |
| Player of the Series | Glenn Phillips, 341 runs |
| Venue | Seddon Park, Hamilton |
A cricket match can turn on a ball nobody remembers by the end of the night. Seifert had 13 off 15 and no rhythm at all when he picked out Naman Dhir at deep point in the fourth over. The catch went down. The rest of the powerplay brought 41 runs from 15 balls, five of them sixes, and New Zealand were never quite as anxious again.
New Zealand had dropped catches of their own and took a wicket with a no-ball, so this was hardly a clinical display. The difference, as ESPNcricinfo's report noted, was that this time they made India pay for the one error that mattered.
India's innings had a storm in the middle of it. From 19 for 2, Kishan and Iyer added 93 in seven overs, and Michael Bracewell's over in that passage cost 27. Iyer reached fifty in 22 balls. At 112 for 2 after 10.1 overs, something well beyond 191 was on offer.
Then the seamers started banging the ball into the pitch. Tickner had Kishan caught in the deep off the higher part of the bat, Smith drew a top edge from Iyer, and 112 for 2 was soon 133 for 5. Milne, used only in the powerplay and at the death, removed both openers early and came back for two more at the end. On a night when 386 runs were scored, 4 for 19 from four overs is the figure that earned the award.
At 82 for 2 New Zealand still needed 110, and Varun Chakravarthy, playing his first game of the series, was giving Phillips some trouble. Iyer then turned to Reddy and Abhishek Sharma for consecutive overs, and they went for 25. On a surface that helped seam more than spin, it looked a gamble, and it did not come off.
Seifert fell seven short of a maiden T20I hundred, bowled off an inside edge by Reddy. Phillips was still there at the end with 65 not out off 38, and his 341 runs are the most by anyone in a bilateral T20I series. It is an odd thing to lead that list from the losing side, but he has batted that way all series.
We had India as favourites and suggested Seddon Park might host the closest game of the tour. India had the depth to justify the first call and still lost by seven wickets with two overs to spare, so we got that one wrong. We were right to pick out Phillips as New Zealand's exception.
India take the T20Is 3-2, though New Zealand have won the last two. The ODI series begins in Auckland on November 4, and India will want to look again at a fifth-bowler plan that cost them here.
Want data-backed predictions for every IPL 2026 match?