New Zealand registered a thrilling four-run victory over India in the third and final T20I at Seddon Park, Hamilton to clinch the series 2-1.
In reply to New Zealand's 212, Dinesh Karthik joined forces with Krunal Pandya and rescued a chase that looked over when MS Dhoni got out with 68 runs to win off 28 balls. Karthik (33* off 16 balls) and Krunal (26* off 13 balls) almost pulled off a heist for India with a 63-run partnership in 28 deliveries but it wasn’t enough in the end.
Needing 16 runs in the final over, Karthik started with a double before playing out two dot balls – one of which saw him denying Krunal a single – that eventually ended any slim hopes of victory for the visitors. Although Karthik hit a maximum in the final delivery, it was too late by then and the Men in Blue ended up conceding a rare T20I series loss.
Analysing India’s defeat, veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said it was an error from Karthik’s side to refuse a single to the well-settled Krunal. He reckons India could have won the game if not for that mistake.
"This last T20I could have gone either way and any team could have won but a little mistake from Dinesh Karthik that he did not take that single and may be we could have won this game too," Harbhajan quoted as saying by India Today.
"Overall we saw a lot of players and a lot of inspection was done. Now I feel the trial selections should be over and now the 15-man team for World Cup should be decided. Looking at that, those 15 players should get a bit of rest in the IPL. Players like Krunal Pandya and more, so many good players you've got, who you wanted to check and they stood well," he added.
Harbhajan also shared a word of advice for Karthik while elaborating the single run controversy.
"Today's match could have gone either way, it was a little mistake from Dinesh Karthik. This tag of finisher that he has got, he did make us win a match against Bangladesh but there [Soumya] Sarkar was bowling and not [Tim] Southee. It is good to have faith in oneself but that much confidence should also be shown in the player on the other side, when he was playing just as good. Somewhere I felt Krunal Pandya could have tried, he had got 18-19 runs in the previous over from Southee. So if that one mistake would not have been made, may be the result of the match and the series would have been different,” he asserted.
Harbhajan believes losing the T20I series shouldn't be too much of a concern for India as they played well throughout the Trans-Tasman tour of Australia and New Zealand.
"India have gained a lot for sure. Australia and New Zealand tours are not easy and it was a long tour. Mentally you get tired by the time you reach the last game but overall I feel we have gained a lot. A lot of good things happened, beating Australia in Australia and then coming to New Zealand and dominating them in one-days,” he remarked.
