India squandered a rollicking start and lost the plot towards the end as they went down to New Zealand by nine runs in a warm-up match ahead of the World Twenty20 at Lord's on Monday.
Chasing 171 for victory, India rode on sterling knocks from Rohit Sharma (36), Suresh Raina (45) and Ravindra Jadeja (41 not out) to cruise to what seemed an imminent win before eventually ending up with 161 for six in their 20 overs.
Earlier, New Zealand survived Ishant Sharma's four-wicket haul to post 170 for seven thanks to useful cameos from Ross Taylor (41), Brendon McCullum (31), Scott Styris (29) and James Franklin (27 not out off 10 balls).
India were off to a flying start as Rohit wasted little time to assert his class even in his uncharacteristic role as opener. He hit Iain O'Brien for a boundary in the first over and worse awaited the right-arm pacer who bled 18 runs in his second as Rohit hit him for two massive sixes and a four with class written all over the shots.
The opening stand yielded 42 runs inside five overs before Gautam Gambhir (14) fell to Ian Butler. But Rohit smote James Franklin for another six to signal he was unperturbed.
India, however, soon fond themselves in a spot of bother with rival captain Daniel Vettori striking twice in his first over.
Coming at number three, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (6) advanced so much down the track that even a fumbling Brendon McCullum had all the time in the world to dislodge the bails.
Two balls later, Rohit fluffed a shot and much to his dismay, the ball rolled on to hit the stumps, cutting short his 20-ball knock that was inclusive of three sixes and as many fours.
Fortunately for India, Raina seemed to continue from where he had left in the Indian Premier League. The left-hander hit Vettori for two sixes in a row followed by a four and ran many a cheeky runs with Jadeja.
Jacob Oram dismissed Raina in the 15th over and Vettori caught Yusuf Pathan (2) off his own bowling as the Kiwis put the brakes on boundaries with some lethal bowling at the death that proved decisive.
They conceded only 24 off the last four overs and that was the difference.
Earlier, despite McCullum and Jesse Ryder (2), arguably two of the most hard-hitting batsmen in contemporary cricket, opening the innings, New Zealand had a rather subdued start after India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni put them in.
Ryder's poor form in the recent Indian Premier League continued and the left-hander had his off-stump uprooted by Ishant in the third over.
At the other end, McCullum often stepped out, trying to unsettle the disciplined Indian bowlers, and had occasional success against Praveen Kumar, RP Singh and Ishant too.
But just when he started looking dangerous, he miscued a skier and became his Knight Riders teammate Ishant's second victim.
Taylor struggled initially before hitting Pragyan Ojha for back-to-back sixes to light up proceedings but the big-turning left-arm spinner finally had some balms applied on his wounds when he had Martin Guptill (10) stumped in the same over.
Taylor had his share of luck as well and the right-hander got a reprieve when Dhoni dropped a thick edge off Harbhajan Singh.
Ishant returned to dismiss Jacob Oram (5), but Taylor found an able ally in Styris and the duo nosed ahead till the 16th over when Harbhajan ejected Taylor, R P Singh taking a well-judged catch in the deep.
Taylor's 33-ball knock included two sixes apart from three boundaries.
Ishant was not done yet and the beanpole pacer castled Styris in his final over to finish with a figures of 4-0-25-4.
Down the order, James Franklin (27 not out off 10 balls) hit RP Singh for two successive sixes, followed by a four, to push the score.
Scorecard
New Zealand:
B McCullum c Praveen b Ishant 31
J Ryder b I Sharma 2
M Guptill st Dhoni b Ojha 10
R Taylor c RP Singh b Harbhajan 41
J Oram c Harbhajan b Ishant 5
S Styris b Ishant 29
N McCullum c Rohit b R P Singh 18
J Franklin not out 27
D Vettori not out 0.
Extras: (LB-5, W-2) 7
Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 170
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-34, 3-65, 4-73, 5-115, 6-124, 7-154.
Bowling: Praveen 1-0-7-0; RP Singh 3-0-37-1; Ishant 4-0-25-4; Irfan 3-0-31-0; Yusuf Pathan 1-0-9-0; Ojha 4-0-34-1; Harbhajan 4-0-22-1.
India:
G Gambhir c Guptill b Butler 14
R Sharma b Vettori 36
MS Dhoni st McCullum b Vettori 6
S Raina c Ryder b Oram 45
R Jadeja not out 41
Y Pathan c & b Vettori 2
I Pathan run out 5
Harbhajan Singh not out 7
Extras: (LB-2, W-2, NB-1) 5
Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 161
Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-56, 3-57, 4-126, 5-137, 6-149.
Bowling: O'Brien 2-0-23-0; Franklin 3-0-25-0; Butler 4-0-32-1; Vettori 3-0-24-3; N McCullum 2-0-13-0; Styris 2-0-15-0; Ryder 1-0-9-0; Oram 3-0-18-1.
