India rebuild through Kishan and Iyer after Milne's double strike at Seddon Park

India lost Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson to Adam Milne inside the first four overs of the final T20I at Seddon Park, leaving Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer to rebuild in a series India have already won

Mitchell Santner won the toss and put India in at Hamilton, and Adam Milne rewarded him with two wickets in the opening exchanges of the fifth and final Twenty20 international.

Abhishek Sharma went for 1, caught by Daryl Mitchell at mid-on off the first ball he faced, and Samson followed for 4 from 10, edging Milne to Michael Bracewell at extra cover.

That left India two down inside the powerplay with Kishan, the wicketkeeper, and Iyer, the captain, together and the scoring rate to repair. India lead the series 3-1 and are playing for a 4-1 finish.

Milne removes both openers

Jacob Duffy took the new ball and Milne struck in the second over, Abhishek picking out mid-on with a drive.

Samson survived an outside edge against the same bowler before falling the same way two overs later, his thin edge pouched at extra cover. India were 19 for 2 after 3.1 overs.

Both wickets to fall in the powerplay went to Milne, and neither opener reached double figures.

Kishan and Iyer rebuild

Kishan responded with a six off Blair Tickner over third man, and India reached 50 for 2 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

Iyer, India's captain, played himself in at the other end as light drizzle drifted across Seddon Park without interrupting play.

Kishan has been in and out of the side on this tour. He missed the middle matches and was dismissed in the first over of India's chase at Eden Park on his return.

What New Zealand did at Eden Park

New Zealand arrive at Hamilton with the momentum of the tour's only home win. At Eden Park they made 259 for 7, their highest total in Twenty20 internationals, beating the 254 for 5 they made against Scotland in 2022.

Glenn Phillips hit 107 off 49 balls with six fours and ten sixes, his third T20I century, and Michael Bracewell added 65 off 25.

India were held to 172 for 9 in reply, losing Samson and Kishan inside the first over to Jacob Duffy, who finished with 4-23 as New Zealand won by 87 runs.

A series already decided

India won the first two matches in Christchurch by four wickets apiece and sealed the series in Wellington with a six-wicket win on 27 October.

New Zealand's reply in Auckland means the tourists are playing for the margin rather than the trophy, and for the composure of a top order that has been rearranged repeatedly across five matches.

India brought Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Chakaravarthy back into the side for the finale and left out Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Five ODIs to follow

The one-day series begins on Wednesday, 4 November, and India have already adjusted their squad for it.

Shubman Gill captains India for the first three one-day internationals, with Iyer named as his deputy and Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli both in the squad.

The selectors added the seamer Auqib Nabi to that group, having originally picked him only for the fourth and fifth matches. Nabi, 29, made his one-day debut against the West Indies last month and took six wickets across two innings for India A against New Zealand A.

Prasidh Krishna misses the one-day series after failing to gain a fitness clearance, and Nitish Kumar Reddy is available for the first match only.

Live: India 73 for 2 after 8.1 overs in the fifth T20I at Seddon Park, with Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer at the crease.

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