Hamilton: Tim Seifert’s big-hitting self reawakened during a powerful 93 as New Zealand pummelled a low-intensity India by seven wickets in the fifth and final T20 on Sunday (November 1, 2026).
The Chase
The opener (93, 50b, 11×4, 5×6) 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.
Despite the defeat, India bagged the five-match series 3-2.
New Zealand’s chase had a shaky start, 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 eking out another maximum off Varun Chakravarthy, who was playing his first match of the rubber. 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, 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 metres, the biggest hit of the match. The 13th over bowled by Chakravarthy yielded 18 runs as Seifert and Phillips tore into the mystery spinner.
Just as Seifert closed in on a maiden T20 hundred, an unfortunate inner edge off Nitish Kumar Reddy ended his stay. But Phillips, who fetched his fifty in just 29 balls, ensured Seifert’s effort did not go in vain.
India’s Innings: Three Phases
Earlier, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Ishan 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 — an early stutter, a middle-over acceleration, and 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.
Kishan was slow off the block, making just 13 off 11 balls, but there was no looking back once he got his eye in — the transformation came with a boundary to long-off off Nathan Smith and a cut six over point off Blair Tickner.
At the other end, Iyer started with a flicked six off Smith, and high-calibre shots flowed. Off-spinner Michael Bracewell bore the brunt, getting creamed for 6, 4, 6 in a row, the last six travelling 100 metres.
Kishan reached his fifty off 28 balls with a six off Bracewell, and Iyer, dropped on 40, followed suit, reaching his half-century in 22 balls with a four off Smith.
But New Zealand clawed back precisely at that stage, claiming Kishan’s wicket, caught at mid-wicket by Smith off Tickner in the 11th over. In the 12th, the Kiwis netted the big fish in Iyer, whose awkward attempt to pull Smith ended in the hands of stumper Seifert.
From there, India struggled for momentum as Tilak Varma, Dhir (dropped on 14) and Nitish could not stitch beefy hits together. India managed just 57 runs between overs 14 and 20 as Milne (4/19) kept chipping in with wickets.
It mirrored India’s early turmoil, when they lost openers Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson for just 19 runs in 3.1 overs.
What It Raises
The result will raise questions about Samson’s consistency ahead of India’s next T20 series in December.
