Seifert, Phillips Power New Zealand Past India in Hamilton

New Zealand overcame a challenging target to beat India by seven wickets in the fifth T20 of the series at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on Sunday. Set 192 to win, the home side reached the target in 18 overs.

The result marked a notable achievement for New Zealand, as it was the third-highest successful T20 chase by the men's team. Their earlier big chases came against Zimbabwe in 2012, when they scored 201, and against Pakistan in 2023, when they reached 194 in Rawalpindi.

The match also had an impact on the bilateral sixes record. New Zealand's 116 sixes in India earlier this year had been a benchmark, and India's tally of the same number in New Zealand has now matched it. The leaderboard remains headed by Austria, with 132 sixes in Germany in 2026. England (120 in 2023) and Australia (117 in 2025), both against West Indies, follow in the list.

Batting first after losing the toss, India managed 191 for 8. A slow start, with two wickets down for 19, was repaired by a third-wicket stand of 93 between Shreyas Iyer (50) and Ishan Kishan (61), who scored off 43 balls. Naman Dhir made 33 and Nitish Reddy 22 to push the total forward. Adam Milne was the standout for New Zealand with 4 for 19.

New Zealand lost Finn Allen early at 9, but Tim Seifert's 93 steadied the innings. He added 73 runs for the second wicket with Daryl Mitchell, who scored 29 from 16 balls. Seifert then shared 86 runs with Glenn Phillips, who remained unbeaten on 65. Bevon Jacobs (unbeaten 1) and Phillips added an unbroken 27 for the fourth wicket to finish the job.