India yesterday snatched the fourth Twenty20 against New Zealand after yet another super over was needed to separate the two sides after the scores were tied following the regulation 20 overs.
New Zealand, batting first in the decider, made 13 with Tim Seifert dropped twice before he was eventually dismissed.
In reply, India captain Virat Kohli hit the winning runs with a ball to spare.
Photo: AP
The third match also ended in a super over, with Rohit Sharma hitting sixes off the final two balls to get India home.
The win puts India 4-0 up in the five-match series with New Zealand stand-in captain Tim Southee not happy that his side could not wrap the game up in the 20 overs.
“It’s very tough, especially in the position we got ourselves into and then to give them a chance at the end — they’re going to grab it with both hands,” he said.
New Zealand, chasing India’s 165-8, went into their last over only needing seven runs to win and with seven wickets in hand.
However, they were restricted to six runs and lost four wickets to finish 165-7, setting up the super over.
New Zealand had already suffered an earlier setback with talismanic captain Kane Williamson a late scratching having not fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered while fielding in Game 3.
It was left to lusty hitting by Colin Munro and Seifert to provide the backbone of their innings with Munro making 64 and Seifert out in the final over for 57.
India, sent into bat first, made 165-8 on a flat track at Wellington with the innings anchored by an unbeaten 50 from Manish Pandey, and his partnerships with Thakur and Navdeep Saini.
India were 6-88 in the 12th over before Pandey and Thakur arrested the slide in a 43-run stand, with Thakur contributing 20. Saini, who was not out 11 in his first appearance on tour, put on 22 with Pandey off the last 13 deliveries.
In a slow start to their reply, New Zealand were 23-1 after five overs, but in the sixth over, when Thakur wound back the pace to under 140kph, Munro found his timing with a six and two fours to get the scoreboard moving.
In partnership with Seifert, they put on 72 off 44 deliveries before Munro was run out in a smart piece of relay fielding involving Thakur and Kohli, who threw down the stumps.
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