183/6 (19.5)
CR : 9.23
182/6 (20.0)
CR : 9.10
New Zealand won by 4 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Tim Seifert
88(48)
D Mitchell 15(16)
c D Shanaka b L Kumara
4s/6s
0/0
SR
93.75
Adam Milne
30 yrs
Best10
Innings37
Runs42
SR97.67
Avg10.50
19.4
1b
L Kumara to A Milne
CLOSE AGAIN! Short of length outside the off stump. Swing and a miss from Milne, the batters seek a bye. The keeper flungs the ball to the bowler who misses a shy at the bowling end. Adam Milne had given up but makes it back in the crease.
The run-out chance missed and they steal a bye. 2 now needed off 2 balls.
19.5
2
L Kumara to R Ravindra
ITS ALL OVER!! Back of length outside the off stump. Ravindra cuts to the left of deep third man and gets back for the 2nd run. New Zealand win a tight encounter by 4 wickets!
NZ won by 4 wickets
10:09 AM IST | New Zealand seal a tense victory in the series decider winning on the penultimate ball by 4 wickets to win the T20I series 2-1. Tim Seifert (88) was the hero with the bat chasing a steep total of 183. Some late wickets for Sri Lanka propelled the match to a tense finish on the penultimate ball.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and elected to field first in the series decider. Put into bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a great start courtesy of their openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka. The duo put on 76 for the first wicket.
Nissanka scored 25 off 25 balls while Kusal Mendis top scored with a brilliant 73 off 48 balls. It was his day today. Kusal Perera scored a quickfire 33 off 21 balls. Dhananjaya de Silva chipped in with 20 off 9 balls. Dasun Shanaka chipped in with 15 off 8 balls in the end. They could have got more but a brilliant last over kept them down to 182/6 in 20 overs. A couple of wickets for Ben Lister while Ish Sodhi got a wicket and so did Adam Milne. There were two run outs as well in the first innings.
The chase began on a brighter note with New Zealand openers adding 53 runs in just 5.3 overs. Chad Bowes was the first to depart off Lahiru Kumara's bowling after a couple of catches were put down which proved costly at a later stage.
Tom Latham joined Seifert and the duo added 84 runs for the second wicket providing the much needed impetus to the chase. Maheesh Theekshana bowled brilliantly for his 1/22 and picked up the key wicket of Latham to break the stand.
Pramod Madushan soon sent back Tim Seifert and put the Kiwi batters under pressure. James Neesham was run out without opening his account trying to sneak a bye with Mark Chapman, Neesham and Daryl Mitchell getting out in the space of 2 balls in the final over bowled by Lahiru Kumara. Rachin Ravindra kept his calm and scored the winning couple of runs on the penultimate ball of the match.
New Zealand skipper Tom Latham won the toss and elected to field first in the series decider. Put into bat first, Sri Lanka got off to a great start courtesy of their openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka. The duo put on 76 for the first wicket.
Nissanka scored 25 off 25 balls while Kusal Mendis top scored with a brilliant 73 off 48 balls. It was his day today. Kusal Perera scored a quickfire 33 off 21 balls. Dhananjaya de Silva chipped in with 20 off 9 balls. Dasun Shanaka chipped in with 15 off 8 balls in the end. They could have got more but a brilliant last over kept them down to 182/6 in 20 overs. A couple of wickets for Ben Lister while Ish Sodhi got a wicket and so did Adam Milne. There were two run outs as well in the first innings.
The chase began on a brighter note with New Zealand openers adding 53 runs in just 5.3 overs. Chad Bowes was the first to depart off Lahiru Kumara's bowling after a couple of catches were put down which proved costly at a later stage.
Tom Latham joined Seifert and the duo added 84 runs for the second wicket providing the much needed impetus to the chase. Maheesh Theekshana bowled brilliantly for his 1/22 and picked up the key wicket of Latham to break the stand.
Pramod Madushan soon sent back Tim Seifert and put the Kiwi batters under pressure. James Neesham was run out without opening his account trying to sneak a bye with Mark Chapman, Neesham and Daryl Mitchell getting out in the space of 2 balls in the final over bowled by Lahiru Kumara. Rachin Ravindra kept his calm and scored the winning couple of runs on the penultimate ball of the match.
Tim Seifert is the player of the match and the player of the series as well.
Tim Seifert (POTM): "We got ahead of the run rate, and sometimes you do go down the gears a bit. It's a balance. The over I got out was the one we were going to target to get 10 or 20 runs. And we saw later that it takes only a couple of wickets for the bowling side to get back into the game as well.
I didn't get off to the best start in the series, but that happens. In Dunedin, Chad took a lot of pressure off me getting a fast start. My cricket's been going well, but importantly we are getting the wins. If I'm not keeping I do back myself to be in the team just as a batter. I'm not going to Pakistan, so the real work is about to start."
I didn't get off to the best start in the series, but that happens. In Dunedin, Chad took a lot of pressure off me getting a fast start. My cricket's been going well, but importantly we are getting the wins. If I'm not keeping I do back myself to be in the team just as a batter. I'm not going to Pakistan, so the real work is about to start."
That's it from our end for the New Zealand international home season. The Blackcaps will now head to Pakistan for another white ball tour. Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Ayan Chatterjee and scorer Dushyant Kumar. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world.