For a series determined by the last two balls, celebrations and mourning were an anti-climatic afterthought. Dinesh Karthik and Krunal Pandya, on whom was tasked the mission to steer India home in the final over by scoring required 16 runs, didn’t plunge ruefully onto the ground. Tim Southee, who executed a perfect last over until the irrelevant last ball, forced a smile. Neither Kane Williamson nor his charges scampered frantically for the souvenir stumps.
It was as though the curtains were pulled down on a purely academic series. The Kiwis obviously could be ecstatic of the brand of electrifying cricket they played, but the Indians could soak in the conclusion of their most rewarding trip to the Southern Hemisphere. Incidentally, the trip ended as it began, with a T20I defeat by an identical margin of four runs, but when Ravi Shastri and his men sit down and take stock of the last three months, the T20 defeats would hardly be dissected or pined over.
Rohit Sharma, India Captain:- Pretty disappointing to not get to the finishing line. 210-odd was always going to be tough, and we were in the game right till the end, but New Zealand held their nerve well and they deserved to win. We started off well in the ODIs, and the boys will be disappointed not getting to the finishing line in the T20s. Lots of positives, and a few mistakes, so there's a lot of material to move ahead. It would have been nice to win the series and go home and play Australia, but unfortunately we couldn't do that.
Kane Williamson, New Zealand Captain:- What a brilliant advertisement for T20 cricket. It's great to get across the line tonight. It was a fairly short series. The first performance was our best, and there were some learnings in the 2nd one. I knew India would come back strong, and it was a great series to be a part of. The nature of international cricket is such that we have to play Bangladesh at home now, so looking forward to that as well.
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