India won another T20I series against New Zealand despite the fact that the third and final match of the series at Napier was washed out, resulting in a rare tie. When the rain began to fall at McLean Park on Tuesday, India was 75 for 4 at the conclusion of 9 overs, chasing a total of 161.
India were equal to the DLS score of 75, hence the third T20I finished in a tie. To win the match, India must have scored more than 75 runs at the end 9th over. Nonetheless, India won the series 1-0 with a 65-run win in the second T20I in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.
The third T20I was decided by the 'thinnest of margins,' when left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner misfielded and assisted India in securing an additional run in the final delivery of the 9th over, which proved costly.
When asked about the misfield in the match's final over, Santner said he was unaware of the situation when he slid at the backward point region. Santner, on the other hand, said that New Zealand would have like to score more than 180 on a decent batting wicket after a great 80-plus stand between Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips.
"That one run could cost us (misfield by me on 8.6), but yeah I guess a lot goes into it. We weren't aware of the exact ball and score, but we do now obviously. We probably we would have liked 180, with such a good platform," Santner told the official broadcaster.
Shreyas Iyer had the most difficult outing, gettingg out for a golden duck. At the same time, his vulnerability to short balls was exposed once again. He attempted to direct a short delivery to third man but holed out to James Neesham at first slip.
With some superb strokeplay, stand-in captain Hardik Pandya and in-form batter Suryakumar Yadav took charge and maintained India on track. In his 13-run innings, SKY hit a six and a boundary before being caught by Glenn Phillips off Ish Sodhi's bowling.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj partnered for eight wickets as India bowled New Zealand out for 160. New Zealand batted first and were at 130 for 2 in the 16th over, but the duo of Arshdeep (4/37) and Siraj (4/17) staged an incredible recovery to end the Kiwi innings with two balls to spare.
India will now head to Auckland where they will play 1st ODI at Eden Park on November 25.
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