Tim Seifert came agonisingly close to ending his wait for a maiden international century, falling seven runs short after a blistering 93 in New Zealand’s seven-wicket victory over India in the fifth and final T20I at Seddon Park on Sunday. But while the opener was disappointed at missing out on the milestone, he was happier that New Zealand finished the series with a win, even if their late revival came too late to prevent India from clinching the series 3-2.Seifert, who had endured a difficult series with four successive single-digit scores, produced a stunning turnaround in the final match, smashing 93 off just 50 deliveries. He was dropped on 13 before making India pay with an aggressive innings that put New Zealand firmly on course to chase down 192 in just 18 overs.However, his hopes of a maiden international hundred ended when he played a back-of-a-length delivery from Nitish Kumar Reddy onto his stumps, leaving him seven short of the landmark.Speaking after the match, Seifert joked that the wait for his first international century continued to weigh on him.“No, look, the main thing is to win. But at the same time, you know, that monkey’s still on my back for getting my first International 100. So look, you’re still a little bit devastated about that. And I think my shoulders and back are getting a bit heavier as well,” he joked.“But no, I think the main thing is winning. And that’s the great thing.“But at the end of the day as well, you sometimes got to get over the line, especially because I haven’t got one before. So yeah, hopefully it doesn’t take another 95 games to get that opportunity. But we’ll see what happens,” Seifert added.
Seifert explains New Zealand’s late turnaround
The opener said adapting to different conditions and learning from mistakes in the earlier matches were crucial to New Zealand’s improved performances towards the end of the series.“Yeah, look, I think you’ve got to be true to yourself. You know, you can fall into a bit of T20 cricket. But you know, you still got to be tough on yourself about playing high-quality shots, high-percentage shots for you.“Yes, you want to put pressure on the bowlers. But you know, sometimes you can get a bit ahead of yourself and try to go too hard. I think you still got to adapt to the wicket that you play on.“So you play in India, you play in New Zealand, two completely different wickets. So no matter where you play in the world, you just got to adapt to what you’re playing on. Some will be easier to play shots early; some you might have to wait until the back end of the powerplay.”New Zealand had lost the first three matches before registering victories in the final two. Seifert felt the hosts had been competitive in the opening encounters but failed to seize crucial moments.“Yeah, I think it was the learning from the previous games. You know, we were close in Christchurch (1st and 2nd T20Is). It’s just about winning those little margins when the game is on the line. I think the bowlers, the batters have stepped up and adapted to the wickets that we’ve played on,” he said.“Look, that’s (winning) your main goal at the start of the series. But when you look back at the series, I think we played good cricket in Christchurch. We just didn’t win the final moments.”He added: “Walking away from Christchurch, you know, we could have easily been 2-0 up or at least 1-all. So, I think, you know, these last two games especially have just kind of put the nail in the coffin about, you know, those final moments that we didn’t quite nail in the first two games.”
‘Take a hat off to him’: Seifert on Phillips’ record-breaking series
While Seifert provided the fireworks in the final match, Glenn Phillips was the standout performer across the series. The middle-order batter finished with 341 runs, breaking Phil Salt‘s record of 331 runs for the most runs by a batter in a bilateral T20I series.Phillips’ remarkable run included scores of 82 not out, 70, 17, 107 and an unbeaten 65 in the final match. He also became one of only three batters to register four or more half-centuries in a bilateral T20I series.Seifert praised his teammate’s consistency and the way he built his innings rather than going after the bowlers from the outset.“You know, he’s been playing unbelievably in all formats for New Zealand recently. And credit to him. I think for us guys at the top as well, knowing that, you know, we bat all the way down that balance of our team.“No matter who’s coming in, you know, we just keep on attacking. And look, to break the highest ever in a five-match series, you got to take a hat off to him and say well played. But just the way he went about his innings as well, he didn’t necessarily come out all guns blazing at the start, got himself in and then picked up his match-ups throughout the innings. So yeah, credit to him,” Seifert said.
