Southee holds nerve as New Zealand clinch series against India
New Zealand clinched the three-match T20 series against India 2-1 with a narrow four-run victory at Seddon Park, Hamilton today.
Colin Munro’s thunderous 40-ball 72 along with Tim Seifert’s 25-ball 43 allowed New Zealand to post a massive 212 runs on the board. Chasing 213 to win, India could only muster 208 as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. A 63-run partnership between Dinesh Karthik (33*) and Krunal Pandya (26*) almost did the job for the visitors but it wasn’t enough in the end.
India looked to be on the ropes when they needed 47 off the last three overs. Dinesh and Pandya together plundered 32 off overs 18 and 19 but Tim Southee restricted the duo to 11 in the 20th.
The morale-boosting victory for New Zealand came after being whipped 4-1 by India in the earlier one-day international series.
It was also a vital knock from Munro, whose position in the New Zealand side ahead of the World Cup had been in question after a string of failures in the ODI and Twenty20 matches against India. Vijay Shankar took an equally aggressive stance at the start of India's chase and the visitors were up at the required run rate through the first half of their innings, but were unable to establish partnerships.
New Zealand next host Bangladesh in a series of three ODIs and three Tests.
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