Wellington, Oct 27 — Daryl Mitchell smashed his career-best T20I score of 89 not out from 52 balls to power New Zealand to a decent total of 198/3 in the third T20I against India at the Hnry Stadium here on Tuesday as the visitors made a comeback in the final few overs to keep the lid on the hosts.
The Kiwis were cruising well till the halfway stage of the first innings, as they were 100/2 after 10 overs, but the hosts seemingly ran out of steam as India also displayed good defensive bowling at the back end of the innings to not let them go past 200.
Mitchell's innings was the highlight as he carried the New Zealand innings through and batted for the majority of the innings. He remained unbeaten on 89 from 52 balls as his scoring dropped a bit in the final few overs, while Bevon Jacobs made 39 from 23, but the final punch lacked from the Kiwis.
For India, Arshdeep Singh turned out to be the pick of the bowlers as he claimed 1-33 in his four overs, while Nitish Kumar Reddy and Axar Patel scalped one wicket as well.
India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first as the visitors went unchanged. Arshdeep Singh struck early once again in the powerplay as he came to remove Tim Seifert for just two in the second over.
A decent start from India had kept the hosts to 6/1 in the first two overs before Finn Allen and Mitchell did not let the scoreboard stagnate. They motored their way to hit 14 runs from the sixth over of Arshdeep Singh and also took 14 off the next one from Axar Patel.
The two put up an 86-run stand from 43 balls as Allen made 40 from 25 balls with five sixes. In-form Glenn Phillips could not hit the straps straightaway and was caught and bowled by Axar for 17 in the 12th over.
The Kiwis were at 123/3 after 12 overs as they looked for a final flourish, but the Indian bowlers adapted well to the conditions and bowled fuller and yorkers as the straight boundaries here are long and the square ones are shorter.
Only 63 runs came from the final seven overs as India bowled good defensive lines. Four different bowlers were used for the death overs, and the visitors did well to keep a lid on the hosts.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 198/3 (Daryl Mitchell 89*, Finn Allen 40; Arshdeep Singh 1-33, Axar Patel 1-36) against India