Daryl Mitchell was the reason New Zealand had a total worth defending. He finished unbeaten on 89 off 52 balls, with five fours and five sixes, as the hosts made 198/3 in their 20 overs after India won the toss and chose to field. Finn Allen gave the innings its early punch with 40 off 25 balls, five of them sixes, but he fell at 90 in the eighth over, and Glenn Phillips followed at 123 in the 11.6th. Tim Seifert had already gone for 4 in the second over. From 123 onwards, Mitchell and Bevon Jacobs, who was unbeaten on 39 off 23 balls, took the innings to 198 themselves.
India's bowlers did not dominate the middle overs, and the figures show it. Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and Nitish Kumar Reddy each took one wicket, returning 1/33, 1/36 and 1/38 from their four overs. Kyle Jamieson was the pick of the New Zealand attack on the other side, though his 2/45 came from 3.2 overs, and Mitchell Santner's 1/17 from three overs was the tightest return of anyone in the match. The margin on the board was narrow enough that India's chase needed a quick start, and it got one.
That quick start belonged to Abhishek Sharma. He made 113 off 38 balls, hitting nine fours and eleven sixes, and he did most of his damage with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi at the other end for the first part of the chase. Sooryavanshi went for 45 off 19 balls and fell at 133 in the 7.1 overs. Abhishek followed at 178 in the 9.6th over, which means India added 45 runs between those two dismissals in roughly two and a half overs. That stretch, more than any single over, decided the contest, because it turned a chase that was still open into one that was already well ahead of the required rate.
The finish was less dramatic but still tidy. Shreyas Iyer fell at 193 in the 12.4th over and Sanju Samson, who scored 18 off 13 balls, went at 195 in the 13.1th, but India were already close enough that the wickets did not threaten the result. They reached 199/4 in 13.2 overs, which left 40 balls unused. Extras were a small factor, with New Zealand conceding 11 and India 13.
The scorecard does not tell us where this win leaves the series, and it does not give the standings or details of the next fixture. What it does show is a clear result: New Zealand's 198 was built on Mitchell's late hitting, and India's answer was built on one batter's extraordinary innings and a middle-overs stand that ended the contest early.