Five days after a remarkably high-scoring series against West Indies, India went into another hit-a-thon in entirely different conditions, and came out of their T20I series opener against New Zealand with a nervy four-wicket win.

Set a target of 226 on a dewy Christchurch night, India looked set to overpower New Zealand entirely with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma putting on 93 for the first wicket in just 35 balls. Then New Zealand fought back, with spinners Michael Bracewell and Mitchell Santner taking two wickets each in a period of play where India got in a tactical muddle and lost 4 for 29 in 22 balls.

But India's batting depth prevailed in the end, with Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Naman Dhir playing crucial innings to haul their side over the line with two balls remaining.

Playing his first T20 game in New Zealand since March 2025 - he had played 77 in other parts of the world since then - Finn Allen lifted the Hagley Oval crowd with a powerful 45 off 24 balls. His hitting in the V, off seam and spin, was particularly awe-inspiring, but this strength also brought about his downfall when he tried to go down the ground off an Axar delivery that was a touch too short for it. By then, though, he had taken New Zealand to 80 for 2 inside the eighth over.

For all of the boundary-hitting from Allen - and, less frequently, from Tim Seifert and Daryl Mitchell - India's bowlers never really let the scoring get out of control. This changed when Bevon Jacobs joined Glenn Phillips in a partnership of 73, off just 33 balls, for the fourth wicket. Jacobs, powered by long levers much like Allen's, hit his first ball for a straight six and scored 31 off 16 before being run out off a needless attempt at a quick single in the 18th over.

But Phillips, who played a typically energetic and resourceful innings, using his feet decisively against Axar's spin and pulling anything marginally short, ensured that wicket didn't hurt New Zealand. He finished unbeaten on 82 off just 40 balls, having hit eight fours and three sixes. New Zealand's 225 for 4 was their highest T20I total against India, and their joint sixth-highest overall.

That total began looking inadequate very quickly, though, when Samson and Abhishek began India's chase. New Zealand's innings contained no overs of 20-plus runs. India began theirs with two such overs in just the first four overs, with Lockie Ferguson and Adam Milne conceding a combined 48 from overs three and four.

This was partly the result of absurdly high-quality T20 shotmaking, and partly New Zealand's struggle to control a new ball that swung extravagantly and also seamed on occasion. By the end of the fifth over, they had bowled four wides and conceded 14 runs off those non-balls.

When Samson, who faced the bulk of the strike during the opening stand, brought up a 23-ball half-century in the sixth over, it looked like India were cruising to victory. Then Abhishek, making room to carve Bracewell, was caught at short third for 29 off 12, and the game was transformed.

India didn't send in Ishan Kishan, their regular No. 3, at the fall of Abhishek's wicket. Instead it was Tilak Varma who walked out. Tilak had occupied that position until midway through this year's T20 World Cup, and lost it because of his struggle to score quickly against spin through the middle overs.

That struggle continued into this game, and he fell to a miscued slog off Bracewell, having scored 6 off 11 balls. By then, Samson had also fallen, inside-edging Santner onto his stumps.

When Santner struck again in the 11th over, tempting Kishan to hit to the longer leg-side boundary and getting him caught at deep midwicket, India had gone from 93 for 0 to 122 for 4.

Then India promoted Axar Patel, who before this game had averaged averaged 7.57 and struck at 98.14 across 17 T20I innings this year. There was some context to those numbers, though - with Shivam Dube taking over the spin-disruptor role in the middle order, Axar had mostly batted at No. 8 this year.

Now with Dube out of the side - Nitish Kumar Reddy had replaced him, likely because India must have thought these conditions called for a pace-hitting seam allrounder rather than a spin-hitting seam allrounder - Axar walked in at No. 6. And he made a crucial contribution, scoring 24 off 14 balls and putting on 45 off 24 with Iyer. Both benefitted from dropped catches along the way, with the far more straightforward chance shelled by Allen at long-on when Iyer was on 27 off 15.

Iyer added another 15 to his score in a 43-run stand with Dhir, before falling to a cutter from Adam Milne in the 19th over. This left India needing 16 off 11 balls. New Zealand did their best to drag the match into the final over with eight runs still needed, but India's start and the dew eventually caught up with them. Santner bowled two long-hops in his final over, the 17th, and Nathan Smith, Milne and Matt Henry all sent down full-tosses in the last three. Dhir continued the impressive start to his international career, finding the boundary whenever the pressure seemed to be mounting, and finished the match with a top-edged hook for six with two runs needed from three balls.