The niggle to Ishan Kishan came as a lifeline for Sanju Samson, one that he again failed to capitalise upon. Shivam Dube’s blistering half-century raised India’s hopes but it came a bit too late, as the hosts fell short by 50 runs chasing 216 in the fourth T20I against New Zealand in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Dube scored a 23-ball 65, hitting seven maximums and three boundaries. But an unfortunate run out, after Harshit Rana (9) hit one straight back at Matt Henry, which richocheted on to the stump, sent Dube back much against the run of play.

India’s run chase then lost steam as they were all out for 165 with eight balls remaining.

The hosts needed a flying start after the Black Caps, riding contributions from openers Tim Seifert (62 off 36 balls) and Devon Conway (44 off 23 balls), alongside Daryl Mitchell’s finishing act (39 not out off 18 balls), posted 215/7 on being put into bat. But India lost the in-form Abhishek Sharma off the very first ball of their chase to Henry, before Jacob Duffy took a fine catch to get rid of skipper Suryakumar Yadav.

A lot depended on Samson and Rinku Singh, who was promoted up the order at No.4. With Rinku looking relatively solid, Samson too seemed more confident and unleashed strokes to score at a strike-rate of close to 200.

But just as he had been doing in the previous matches, he remained deeper into the crease for most of his innings. As New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner then floated one in the over just after Powerplay, Samson looked clueless and was cleaned up, showing no footwork.

Santner gaining some rhythm before the T20 World Cup beginning next week certainly augurs well for New Zealand. He used the flight to perfection to dismiss all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who didn’t bowl at all on Wednesday.

With the series already won, India’s focus was on certain individual performances. The heat stays on Samson, but Dube’s batting braving the adversities was indeed a
big positive.

Earlier, despite Conway and Seifert taking the Kiwis to 100/0 in just over eight overs, the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh (coming in Ishan’s place) and Jasprit Bumrah did well to regain the momentum for India in the middle overs. That was another positive for India, though they couldn’t get the better of Mitchell.