5 reasons India have not been able to beat New Zealand in T20Is

#3 Inadequate death bowling (Wellington, 2009)

Brendon McCullum held his nerve to pull off a last-ball victory for New Zealand

During the final game of the two-match T20I series within their 2009 trip to New Zealand, the Indian lower middle-order were unable to take advantage of the short boundaries on offer in Wellington. This happened despite Virender Sehwag showing the way with a quickfire 11-ball 24 which contained as many as five boundaries. Yuvraj Singh top-scored by plundering a half-century off just 34 deliveries.

However, the rest of the batsmen did not have the wherewithal to find the boundary ropes. Skipper Daniel Vettori displayed his keen tactical nous by stifling them with a tight line complemented by precise field placements. As a consequence, the visitors had to remain content with a meager total of 149.

Jesse Ryder and Brendon McCullum made their intentions pretty clear by going after the seamers. Apart from the reliable Zaheer Khan, none of the other fast bowlers managed to apply any sort of pressure. Just like in countless other cases, the Indian team had to depend on their spinners to get them back into the contest.

Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja did exactly that by forming a parsimonious partnership in the middle-overs.

In what could be a case of eerie similarities with the recently completed third ODI between the two countries at Kanpur, the equation came down to 35 off the last four overs. Unlike the current side which contains two specialist death bowlers, the class of 2009 did not comprise of any seamer capable of sending down yorkers on a regular basis.

With pace spearhead Zaheer finishing his quota of four overs before the business stage of the clash, the tourists were truly up against it. Even though he picked up a couple of vital scalps in his previous over, Irfan Pathan undid all his good work by coming up with two length balls right in McCullum's arc during the final over of the game.

The destructive right-hander duly capitalised on the wayward bowling and sealed a tight victory for New Zealand.