Trans-Tasman Trophy, 5th T20I: New Zealand vs Australia - Things which went wrong for the hosts
Australia pulled-off the highest-ever run chase in T20I in history to beat New Zealand by 5 wickets at the Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Eden Park is the third-slowest scoring T20 venue in New Zealand but the two teams defied all logic and produced an absolute run fest.
Batting first, the Kiwis posted a total of 243/6, which looked almost insurmountable, but, the Aussie blitz set a new world record as they chased down 244 with 7 balls remaining.
Australia have now won all their four matches in the tri-series, while New Zealand have won just one against England.
England, who are yet to win a game in the ongoing series, will face the hosts at Seddon Park, Hamilton on Sunday, February 18, before one of these two teams face-off against Australia in the series finale on February 21 in Auckland.
Now, let us find out what went wrong for New Zealand as they failed to defend a huge total.
#4 Lower-order collapse
New Zealand chose to bat after skipper Kane Williamson won the toss at Eden Park. Williamson believed that a used surface would possibly become more difficult to bat on and going by the history, the team chasing had won only one of the last seven T20Is in Auckland.
Australia's stand-in captain, David Warner, lost the toss for the first time in the series but wasn't disappointed as he wanted to bowl first anyway.
Openers Martin Guptill and Colin Munro, who helped himself to a quickfire 33-ball 76, gave a rollicking start to the Kiwis and brought up a 132-run partnership in 10.2 overs for the opening wicket.
In the process, Guptill surpassed his former teammate Brendon McCullum as the leading run-getter in T20Is.
The 31-year-old notched up his second T20I hundred and eventually finished with 105 off 54 balls, getting out to Andrew Tye in the 17th over.
After Munro's departure, the Black Caps could not keep their ship steady and kept losing wickets at regular intervals and posted a total of 243/6 in 20 overs.