India vs New Zealand: Black Caps avoid T20I series sweep with 50-run victory in Visakhapatnam

by Devesh Jaganath

image India vs New Zealand: Black Caps avoid T20I series sweep with 50-run victory in Visakhapatnam
After losing the first three of their five-match T20I series against India, New Zealand avoided a series sweep by claiming a 50-run victory in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday afternoon. While the Black Caps cannot win the series, the victory would have given them a boost of confidence heading into the T20 World Cup next week.

India lose fourth T20I despite Shivam Dube late flurry

Despite having already lost the five-match T20I series, New Zealand delivered an impressive performance in their fourth T20I against India in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday afternoon, winning the match by 50 runs to avoid a series sweep and build momentum leading up to the 2026 T20 World Cup next week. 

After being put in to bat by the home side, the Black Caps got off to an excellent start, with opening pair Devon Conway and Tim Seifert producing their best performance of the series, recording an opening-wicket partnership of 100 runs in 8.2 overs. 

Seifert went on to score 62 off 36 before falling to Arshdeep Singh in the 13th over, while Glenn Phillips and Daryl Mitchell navigated the side to a defendable total of 215/7 in their 20 overs. Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav shared the wickets for the Men in Blue. 

During their defence, the Kiwis dismissed the in-form Abhishek Sharma for a golden duck and sent skipper Suryakumar back to the pavilion in the next over. Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh briefly steadied the ship, but the Men in Blue continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. 

India looked to have got a foot back in the game through Shivam Dube, who delivered an explosive performance, smashing a 23-ball 65, which included three 4s and seven 6s. It took the all-rounder just 15 deliveries to reach the half-century mark. 

However, after Dube was run out at the non-strikers' end by Matt Henry, India’s hopes of reaching the target faded, and they were eventually bundled out for 165 runs, marking just their fourth defeat in 41 T20I matches since the 2024 T20 World Cup. 

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Henry, Phillips make history in fourth T20I against India

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From historic runs chases to Abhishek Sharma’s incredible knock in the third T20I, this series between India and New Zealand has had no shortage of record-breaking moments, and we saw another couple of performances etched into the history books in midweek. 

The first came in New Zealand’s innings, where Glenn Phillips reached the impressive milestone of 100 sixes in T20Is, becoming only the third New Zealander to achieve the feat after former Kiwis opener Martin Guptill (173) and Colin Munro (107). 

Phillips got to the milestone by launching Kuldeep Yadav over the boundary in the 14th over of the first innings, but it was the Indian all-rounder who had the last laugh by claiming Phillips’ scalp just four deliveries later in the same over. 

The other record came from Matt Henry, who, after claiming the prized wicket of Sharma with the first ball of the match, became the first bowler in T20 history to pick up two wickets with the first ball of an innings in consecutive matches. 

Henry had also dismissed Sanju Samson for a golden duck in the third match of the series last weekend, and is now also only the second player to achieve this feat in the same T20I series, after Naser Baluch of Sweden in the Nordic T20 Cup back in 2023.