Sunday’s fixture was India’s 24th T20I since July — a match every fifth day. No team has been busier in the shortest format. With a sample this vast, every aspect has been dissected about Shreyas Iyer’s team, every word written, and attention has already swung to the ODI series. Into this setting the T20 caravan rolled at Hamilton, for the second successive dead rubber of the five-match series, with an agenda of just two items — experimentation and redemption.The latter was on display in abundance. New Zealand won by seven wickets, and the victory belonged to Tim Seifert, who had made only 36 runs in the first four matches. His 50-ball 93 helped his team make light work of the 192-run target set by the visitors. In a similar vein, Indian captain Shreyas Iyer and Ishan Kishan had each recorded a first T20I half-century in nine matches.Experimentation was comparatively thinner. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was given another opportunity after managing only one wicket in the first three matches before being dropped for the fourth, while Varun Chakaravarthy ended his month-and-a-half hiatus from the eleven. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, however, spent yet another evening watching a T20I from the dugout, a ritual growing more Groundhog Day by the match.Iyer conceded that having already won the series made the changes possible, though they did not pay the dividends he and the management would have wished. Kumar began menacingly, giving away 11 runs in his first two overs, eight of them from edged boundaries. His next two, though, cost 30.AS IT HAPPENED | INDIA VS NEW ZEALAND 5TH T20I HIGHLIGHTSIndia did have the start they wanted, courtesy Arshdeep Singh, who has been the team’s most effective bowler in these conditions. Finn Allen misjudged the bounce of a short ball and skied his pull, and Kishan ran backwards from midwicket to take a fine catch. At this point, the praise for India’s fielding ends.Seifert would have had a very contrasting end to the series, had he not been offered a glimpse into India’s penchant for equilibrium in the fourth over. He hoicked to deep backward point and Naman Dhir, presented with a regulation chance, let it slip through his hands — as Adam Milne did when it was his turn to bat.Story continues below this ad India won the five-match T20I series 3-2. (CREIMAS)The screws were turned in the last over of powerplay, where Kumar was taken for a ride by Seifert. The over yielded 20 runs for New Zealand, courtesy of a couple of sixes — both struck with disdain over the bowler’s head, and an equal share of fours.The first eight overs went according to the hosts’ plans, but Chakaravarthy reeled India back in during the ninth by dismissing India’s serial antagonist, Daryl Mitchell. But tables turn quickly in this format, as the leg-spinner learnt when his next over cost 18.For those determined to be overly critical, there was another drop in the 14th over. Glenn Phillips, the player of the series awardee with 341 runs, struck the leather with venom right back into where it had come from — Prince Yadav’s arms. The seamer got a hand to it, but rather than lament the lost chance, he might count his blessings that every phalange remained intact.Sanju Samson could expect less leniency for his mistake six deliveries later, when he failed to hold on to an edge off Phillips’ willow. It happened to be India’s eighth drop in the series, and Iyer admitted after the match that the team’s fielding standards merits an introspection. Little else in the chase merits mention besides Seifert’s dismissal in the 16th over, which denied him what would have been his first international century in the eighth year of his career. In terms of the match, though, the wicket was academic as New Zealand’s required run rate was 5.14 at the time.Story continues below this adEarlier, the Indian openers, Abhishek Sharma and Samson, scrambled for answers to the two-way swing and variable bounce that Adam Milne conjured, and made five runs from their first 12 balls, before 93-run partnership between Iyer and Kishan steadied India’s ship.At 111/2 in the halfway stage, India should ideally have accumulated a score significantly higher than what they eventually did, but Kishan’s dismissal in the 11th over sparked an unrelenting processing of wickets, save for Dhir’s sole resilient act of 22-ball 33.For New Zealand, the finale came wrapped in a Catch-22. They can take heart from the last two matches, for 2-3 reads far more respectably than 0-5. Yet having crossed the line in Auckland and Hamilton, they will rue what their captain, Mitchell Santner, called “small moments” in the opening games, where they were only one favourable moment away from victory.He will have little time to dwell on it. Blink, and the ODI series is upon us. Welcome to modern cricket.Story continues below this adBrief scores: India 191/8 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 61; Adam Milne 4/19) lost to New Zealand 195/3 in 18 overs (Tim Seifert 93; Nitish Kumar Reddy 1/19) by 8 wickets.