Glenn Phillips sets bilateral T20I runs record as New Zealand beat India in Hamilton
Glenn Phillips produced a match-winning 65 not out off 38 as New Zealand defeated India by seven wickets in the fifth and final T20I at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Sunday. The win gave New Zealand a consolation victory in the five-match series.
India posted 191 for 8, propelled by half-centuries from Ishan Kishan (61) and Shreyas Iyer (50). Kishan and Iyer added 93 for the third wicket after India lost Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson cheaply. New Zealand applied pressure in the death overs to restrict India to 191. Adam Milne finished as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/19.
Tim Seifert led New Zealand’s reply with 93 off 50 balls and combined with Phillips for an 86-run partnership for the third wicket off 42 deliveries. Phillips remained unbeaten on 65 off 38 while Daryl Mitchell added a quick 29 off 16 as the hosts completed the chase in 17.4 overs.
Phillips finished the five-match series with 341 runs, the record for most runs in a T20I bilateral series, at an average of 113.66, surpassing England’s Phil Salt who had scored 331 during the 2023 tour of the West Indies. He also equalled the record for the most 50-plus scores in a bilateral T20I series, registering four such scores and joining Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and Japan’s Sabaorish Ravichandran in that mark. The performances helped New Zealand sign off the series on a high despite losing it.
The India-New Zealand T20I series witnessed 116 sixes, the joint-fourth most ever hit in a bilateral T20I series; earlier this year the two teams had also recorded 116 sixes during their five-match T20I series in India. Austria hold the record with 132 sixes against Germany in 2026. India set the record for the most sixes hit against a single opposition in a calendar year, smashing 142 sixes against New Zealand, while the Black Caps are second on that list with 117 sixes against India this year.
India clinched the five-match series 3-2. New Zealand’s successful chase of 192 was their third-highest in men’s T20Is, behind a 201-run chase against Zimbabwe in Hamilton in 2012 and a 194-run chase against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2026.
