IND vs NZ 4th T20I: Phillips 107, India Lose by 87

New Zealand beat India by 87 runs in the 4th T20I at Eden Park, Auckland, on Friday. Glenn Phillips made 107 off 49 balls, New Zealand posted 259 for 7, their highest total in T20Is, and Jacob Duffy took 4 for 23 as India finished on 172 for 9. India still lead the five-match series 3-1, with the last game in Hamilton on Sunday.

It was New Zealand's first win of the series and India's second-heaviest defeat by runs in T20Is. It also came on the day India made two changes to a winning side: Ishan Kishan for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Mayank Yadav for Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

IND vs NZ 4th T20I: the scores

• New Zealand 259/7 in 20 overs (Glenn Phillips 107 off 49, Michael Bracewell 65 off 25, Finn Allen 31 off 17; Mayank Yadav 3/48, Arshdeep Singh 1/38, Axar Patel 1/43 in 3 overs, Nitish Kumar Reddy 1/64)
• India 172/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 35 off 35, Naman Dhir 28 off 13, Abhishek Sharma 27 off 15; Jacob Duffy 4/23, Mitchell Santner 2/24, Matthew Fisher 2/40)
• Result: New Zealand won by 87 runs. India lead the series 3-1.
• Toss: India won the toss and chose to bowl, for the fourth game in a row.

How New Zealand got to 259

India's start with the ball was good. Mayank Yadav had Tim Seifert caught at third man off the last ball of the first over, and New Zealand were 5 for 1. Daryl Mitchell then took Mayank for 6, 6, 4, 4 in the third over before Mayank trapped him lbw at 143 kph. Shreyas Iyer named that over after the game: "We fell a bit short in our bowling to start with," he said, pointing to the powerplay, "especially in the third over."

New Zealand were 67 for 2 after six overs and 112 for 4 when Mayank had Bevon Jacobs caught off a short ball in the 11th over. That was the last time India were in the game. Phillips and Bracewell added 115 for the fifth wicket in a little over six overs, and New Zealand scored 150 off their last 10 overs.

Two overs did most of the damage, and our ball-by-ball shows both:

• The 16th over, Nitish Kumar Reddy: 32 runs. A single, a no-ball for height that Phillips hit for four, a two, and then four sixes in a row. Our commentator noted that three of the four were in the slot or full tosses.
• The 17th over, Mayank Yadav: 20 runs. Bracewell scooped him over the keeper for six twice, the first at 140 kph, and flicked a leg-side slower ball over third man for a third.

Phillips reached his hundred off 46 balls with a six off Arshdeep in the 19th over and was out off the second ball of the 20th. He hit 10 sixes. In four games this series he has 276 runs off 146 balls, a strike rate of 189, the most on either side.

India's chase: 4 for 2 after five balls

India needed 13 an over, and the chase was over almost before it started. Sanju Samson hit his first ball for four and was caught behind off the second. Ishan Kishan made 0 off 3 and gave Duffy a return catch three balls later. India were 4 for 2.

Abhishek Sharma (27 off 15) and Shreyas Iyer (22 off 11) hit back, but Fisher had Abhishek caught at mid-on in the fifth over and Adam Milne bowled Iyer in the sixth. Santner then took two wickets in his first over, the ninth: Nitish caught at cover and Axar Patel caught and bowled. At 89 for 6 after 8.4 overs, India were playing for the margin. Duffy came back to remove Naman Dhir and Arshdeep with consecutive balls in the 12th over, and Tilak's 35 off 35 kept India from being bowled out.

Did dropping Vaibhav cost India?

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made 45 off 19 in Wellington on Tuesday, and he and Abhishek put on 133 inside eight overs. On Friday he was out because Ishan Kishan was fit again after his adductor strain. "Ishan comes back in for Vaibhav," Iyer said at the toss. No other reason was given.

The numbers from our scorecards:

• Vaibhav in this series: 49 runs off 27 balls in two innings, a strike rate of 181, including the 45 off 19 when he opened.
• Ishan in this series: 1 run off 6 balls in two innings. He made 1 in the first game, missed the next two with an adductor strain, and made 0 on his return.
• India's opening stands: 133 in Wellington with Vaibhav, and 4 in Auckland, with Samson moved back up to open and Ishan at No. 3.

Be fair to the selectors, though. Ishan is the senior player, the series was already won, and he needed match time before the ODIs. And no single batter makes up 87 runs. India lost because they conceded 259, not because of who batted at No. 3.

But the decision sent a mixed message. A 15-year-old who had just made the best innings of his tour lost his place the next game, and India lost the one thing that had won them the Wellington game: two left-handers attacking from ball one. If India want to see Vaibhav as an opener, Hamilton is the last T20I before a long gap.

Did dropping Bhuvneshwar cost India?

Less than it looks. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had 1 wicket for 139 runs in 12 overs in the first three games, an economy of 11.6. That was the worst of any India bowler in the series.

Mayank Yadav took 3 for 48 in his place, and his wickets came in different ways: a swinging short ball, a full ball at 143 kph, and a quick bouncer that hurried Jacobs. Mayank gave India more wickets in one game than Bhuvneshwar had in three. His problem was two overs that cost 20 each, which is about control, not pace.

The bowler India should be worried about is Nitish Kumar Reddy. He went for 64 in four overs on Friday and has 3 wickets for 173 runs in 15 overs in the series, 11.5 an over.

Axar vs Santner: two left-arm spinners, two different series

This is the most striking split of the series. Both are left-arm finger spinners who bat in the lower order, and both have bowled 15 overs in four games:

• Mitchell Santner: 15 overs, 9 wickets, 101 runs. Economy 6.73, average 11.2.
• Axar Patel: 15 overs, 3 wickets, 158 runs. Economy 10.53, average 52.7.

New Zealand's other spinner, off-spinner Michael Bracewell, has gone for 108 runs in 10 overs (10.8 an over). So this is not just "New Zealand pitches help spin". Santner is doing something that neither Axar nor Bracewell is.

1. Pace: Santner bowls 25 kph slower. Our ball-by-ball logged Santner at 77 kph when he bowled Iyer in Christchurch and 74 kph when Naman Dhir hit a slower ball straight to cover. Axar was logged at 102 kph in the same game. Axar has always been a quick, flat spinner. In India that pace skids on and beats the bat. On New Zealand's true, bouncy pitches, it comes on to the bat. Santner said before the toss that the Eden Park pitch "does bounce a bit more". A slow ball on a true pitch makes the batter supply all the power, and with straight boundaries this short, batters try to do exactly that.

2. Where the wickets come from. Santner's nine wickets: bowled twice, caught and bowled once, and six catches, mostly batters going over cover, mid-wicket or long-on and not getting there. Iyer (twice), Naman, Abhishek and Nitish all got out trying to hit him big and failing to time it. That is what a slow ball does. Axar's three wickets were also catches from big shots (Finn Allen twice, Phillips once), but the misses in between went for six.

3. Lengths. Axar's bad balls in this series have been short or full tosses. Our commentary on his overs: Phillips "rocked back and pulled" a short ball for four in the 1st T20I, then hit a low full toss straight for four; Allen pulled two short balls in a row for six on Friday ("Short and pulled away by the batsman for a maximum. Poor bowl that."); and in the 14th over Bracewell took him for 4, 4, 6, 4 off a full toss, a ball going away from him and a straight hit. At 100 kph, a ball dropped short sits up to be pulled, and the pace does half the work. Santner bowls full toss too, but at 75 kph a batter has to hit it, not just help it on.

4. The match situation. Santner has always bowled to India chasing: 226, 181, 199 and 260. Batters chasing big totals have to attack the bowler who is going cheaply, and he has taken nine wickets from the risk. Axar has always bowled to New Zealand batting first, with wickets in hand and no rate to chase. That flatters Santner a little. It does not explain 6.7 against 10.5.

5. Matchups are not the reason. You might expect handedness to explain it. It doesn't. A left-arm spinner's stock ball turns away from right-handers, and New Zealand's top six on Friday had five right-handers, so the matchups should suit Axar. India's top order has more left-handers (Abhishek, Ishan, Tilak, Vaibhav and Axar himself), which in theory suits Santner less. Santner has still taken four of his nine wickets against left-handers.

The short version: Santner takes pace off and dares batters to hit. Axar fires it in and gets hit. On these grounds, slower is better.

Why not Kuldeep or Varun?

Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy are in the squad and have not played a game on the tour. After four games, the case for at least one of them is strong:

• India have bowled only 17 overs of spin in four games (Axar 15, Naman Dhir 2). New Zealand have bowled 25 (Santner 15, Bracewell 10). On grounds where spin is the cheapest way to bowl, India have bowled the least of it.
• Kuldeep is the closest India have to the Santner model. He is a left-arm wrist spinner who bowls slow, with drift and dip, and turns the ball both ways. That makes him harder to line up for a straight hit than a quick finger spinner.
• Varun is the wicket-taker. He is not slow, but his variations are hard to pick, and he has been one of India's main T20I wicket-takers since his recall in 2024. New Zealand's batters have seen almost no wrist spin all series.

The case against is Axar's batting. India have played eight batters all series, and Axar was promoted to No. 5 on Friday. But he has made 42 runs off 32 balls in three innings, and the lower order has not needed him: Naman Dhir has 105 off 46 at No. 7 or 8.

Our view: India should try it in Hamilton. The cleanest change keeps the batting depth and swaps a seamer. Kuldeep or Varun for Nitish Kumar Reddy (3 for 173 in the series) still leaves Axar at No. 7. If India want to see both wrist spinners, Axar is the one to rest. With the series won, Sunday is the right time to find out.

What it means for India

• The bowling is still the problem. Every India bowler except Arshdeep (9.3 an over) has gone at more than 10 an over in the series. New Zealand have made 180 or more in all four games.
• India lost the powerplay with the bat. They were 4 for 2 after five balls and 56 for 4 when Iyer fell in the sixth over.
• Iyer's runs: 22 off 11 on Friday and 76 off 60 in the series, a strike rate of 127.
• The ODIs are next. The ODI series starts in Auckland three days after the last T20I, so Hamilton is the last chance to look at Kuldeep, Varun and Vaibhav in this format.

What comes next

The 5th T20I is at Seddon Park, Hamilton, on Sunday, 1 November, at 12:30 PM IST. It is live on Sony Sports Ten 1 (English) and Ten 3 (Hindi), and streams on SonyLIV. Follow it on TryBall's match page for the toss, playing XIs, live score and ball-by-ball commentary.

All match and series numbers in this article are from TryBall's own scorecards and ball-by-ball commentary of the four T20Is.