TIM Seifert’s big-hitting self reawakened during a powerful 93 as New Zealand pummelled a low-on-intensity India by seven wickets in the fifth and final T20 in Hamilton, on Sunday. The opener (93, 50b, 11x4, 5x6) 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. 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.