The chase ws hit at the very start as Abhishek Sharma perished on the first ball of the innings, coming down the track and slashing Matt Henry to the fielder at deep-point with short third in the ring. In the next over, when Jacob Duffy bent down and pouched Suryakumar Yadav, India had the test they wanted. At Raipur, during their chase of 209, India had lost two wickets inside the first two overs, but had Ishan to launch a counter-attack.

But still, questions have been around as to how this team would respond in similar situations in crunch fixtures. Before the World Cup squad was picked, the decision to go with Rinku Singh was made keeping this scenario in mind.

This was a dead rubber, but with a batsman short, it put India under pressure and they wilted inside the first half of the innings. Rinku, blessed with a wonderful temperament, isn’t ultra-aggressive and is capable of showing restraint and exploding when required. In his brief stay, he made an attempt to marry both approaches, but didn’t succeed as the Kiwi attack kept him in check for larger parts.

Samson’s struggles

Having lost two wickets early, Samson had a wonderful opportunity to shut all the noise around his spot. Even as Rinku got going, Samson too got a start, as his three boundaries and a six promised much. But when Santer came on, Samson, eyeing the chip shot over cover, had his stumps exposed and the left-arm spinner didn’t need any further invitation. After firing a quick one, he slowed down the next which landed on the middle-stump. And Samson, who was trying to punch it with hard hands, got nowhere close to the pitch of the ball which spun just enough to beat the bat and hit the timber, further denting Samson’s hopes of taking the opener’s slot at the World Cup.

In the next over, Santner got the better of Hardik Pandya as India kept sliding before Dube’s 23-bal 65, which included seven sixes and three boundaries, gave the local crowd something to cheer.

Seifert show

Earlier, it was Tim Seifert who set the tone for New Zealand’s win. A globe-trotting T20 specialist, who turned down a national contract, he has been in form and would open alongside Finn Allen at the T20 World Cup ahead of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra. One half of ‘Bash Brothers (alongside Allen), Seifert was a middle-order batsman who has found success at the top. With a high backlift like Faf du Plessis, he bludgeoned India’s attack in the Powerplay.

Tim Seifert in action. (Surjeet Yadav / CREIMAS for BCCI)

With Conway, who appeared to try too hard in the early part of the innings, taking his time to find his flow, Kiwis got a flying start that left India searching for answers. Strong square of the wicket, thanks to his early days in hockey, Seifert prefers the leg-side and after two streaky boundaries off Arshdeep Singh, he showed what he’s capable of. It took Kuldeep Yadav’s arrival for him to slow down, before his dismissal – one amongst four in the middle overs – resulted in New Zealand losing their way briefly.

Even as all the power-hitters around him failed to make the most of Seifert’s blazing start, Daryll Mitchell soldiered on in his typical way to take New Zealand beyond 200.