The Indian cricket team suffered its second successive defeat against New Zealand after losing by seven wickets in the final match of the five-game NZ vs IND T20 2026 series in Hamilton on Sunday.
India posted 191/8 after being asked to bat first by the Black Caps with Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer slamming fifties. The hosts rode a 50-ball 93 by opener Tim Seifert to easily chase the target down.
Despite the loss, India won the series 3-2, having won the opening three matches.
Put in to bat, India slumped to 19/2 inside the first four overs as Adam Milne struck twice up front.
The Kiwi pacer had Abhishek Sharma holing out to mid-on off his first ball of the innings and then removed Sanju Samson, who was caught by Michael Bracewell off a leading edge.
The visitors rebuilt in style with Ishan Kishan and Indian T20 captain Shreyas Iyer racing to a 93-run third-wicket stand off just 43 balls.
Kishan brought up a fifty off 28 balls and made 61 off 32 with five fours and five sixes before Blair Tickner had him caught at deep midwicket by Nathan Smith.
The knock carried Kishan past 2000 T20I runs and his tally of 1220 for the year took him beyond Suryakumar Yadav’s 1164 in 2022 for the most T20I runs by an Indian in a calendar year. He also became the third-fastest Indian to 2000 in the format by balls faced, behind Abhishek and Suryakumar.
At the other end, Iyer matched him stroke for stroke, reaching a 22-ball half-century and finishing with 50 off 23, studded with four sixes, until Smith had him top-edging a pull to the keeper.
With both Kishan and Iyer falling inside a span of seven balls, the visitors’ innings lost momentum through the middle overs as Smith also had Tilak Varma caught and bowled, leaving India 133/5.
Naman Dhir and Nitish Kumar Reddy repaired the damage with a 46-run stand off 30 deliveries. Dhir struck 33 off 23 before Tickner had him caught by Bracewell.
Milne returned to bowl the final over and dismissed Nitish and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to finish with 4/19 as India posted 191/8.
Arshdeep Singh struck early for India, having Finn Allen caught by Ishan Kishan. However, Naman Dhir dropping Seifert on 11 off Arshdeep proved costly.
Seifert punished the let-off, racing to a 34-ball fifty and plundering 93 off 50 with 11 fours and five sixes before Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled him just short of a maiden hundred.
Daryl Mitchell chipped in with 29 off 16, struck with four sixes, before Varun Chakravarthy had him caught at long-off.
Glenn Phillips then closed out a remarkable series, finishing unbeaten on 65 off 38 with eight fours and three sixes. His 341 runs across five innings became the most by any batter in a bilateral T20I series, surpassing Phil Salt’s 331.
NZ vs IND T20 2026, 5th match, brief scores: India 191/8 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 61, Shreyas Iyer 50; Adam Milne 4/19) lost to New Zealand 195/3 in 18 overs (Tim Seifert 93, Glenn Phillips 65 not out; Nitish Kumar Reddy 1/19) by seven wickets.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/new-zealand-vs-india-t20-cricket-2026-match-5-report
