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India walked into the final match as a team who had never lost a T20I decider. India won the toss and Rohit Sharma elected to bowl first. Just like the first T20I, the Kiwi openers gave their team a flying start.
Tim Seifert got out for a quick-fire 43 but Colin Munro carried on the momentum and smashed 72 runs in 40 balls. A cameo from captain Kane Williamson and Colin de Grandhomme ensured that the hosts crossed the 200 mark yet again. For India, barring Kuldeep, most of the bowlers fell on the expensive side. The star from the last game, Krunal Pandya, conceded over 50 runs.
India lost Shikhar Dhawan early in the huge chase, but Shankar and Rohit kept the scoreboard ticking. Vijay Shankar scored a well played 43, but threw away his wicket yet again.
Rishabh Pant came in all guns blazing and smashed three sixes but got out after a cameo. After that, India kept losing wickets. Karthik and Krunal tried their best, but in the end, India lost the game by four runs and with that, also lost the series.
Here is how the world reacted to India's series loss:
Kane Williamson: What a brilliant advertisement for T20 cricket. It's great to get across the line tonight. It was a fairly short series. The first performance (1st T20) was our best, and there were some learnings in the second one. We knew India would come back strong. For it to go to the last couple of balls, it was a great series to be a part of.
Rohit Sharma: Pretty disappointing to not get to the finishing line. 210-odd was always going to be tough, and we were in the game right till the end, but New Zealand held their nerve well and they deserved to win. We started off well in the ODIs, and the boys will be disappointed not getting to the finishing line in the T20s. It would have been nice to win the series and go home and play Australia, but unfortunately, we couldn't do that.
Tim Seifert, Man of the Series: Great to have a performance like that, but it's great to get a victory, particularly a last-minute one like that. Great to have batted with Colin Munro. It's awesome in my hometown, that the crowd have come out in full support.
Colin Munro, Man of the Match: Touch and go there until the final minute. India - you get one good batsman, another one comes along. The boys did a really good job of finishing off the really good Indian batsmen. Didn't really focus on trying to do anything different, tried to put pressure back on the bowlers. Just came out nice and free, had a bit of luck, which you certainly need in this match.
Gaurav Kalra:
Sanjay Manjrekar:
Mohandas Menon:
Mazher Arshad:
Bharath Seervi:
Umang Pabari:
Harsha Bhogle:
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