The Blackcaps have been left to rue another batting collapse, after the tied third Twenty20 International against India in Napier on Tuesday.
Batting first at McLean Park, the Blackcaps squandered a strong start laid by Devon Conway (59) and Glenn Phillips, who's 86-run partnership had New Zealand at 130/2 in the 16th over.
But a flurry of wickets saw the home side wobble, and fall from 146/4 when Conway was dismissed to be all out for 160 in the final over.
The Blackcaps' bowlers struck to take four wickets to leave India at 75/4, resulting in a tie when rain forced both sides from the field after nine overs - unable to return to the field for a Super Over.
Had New Zealand scored just one more run, they'd have won the series finale, and drawn the series 1-1, instead of being forced to take a 1-0 defeat.
As one of the key figures in New Zealand's efforts with the bat, Phillips asserts that the Blackcaps should have done better in their innings, but credited India's bowlers - and in particular Mohammed Siraj (4/17) and Arshdeep Singh (4/37) for their role in pulling things back.
"At the end of the day, two teams have to bat on it before it becomes one pitch or another," said Phillips.
"We honestly felt like we probably did leave a couple [of runs] out there. We got ourselves into a position to get a much bigger total.
"The way the Indian boys bowled at the death was magnificent. At the end of the day, in a game with such small margins, something that can turn so quickly, it was something like three wickets for six runs in 12 balls.
"Cricket has ways of turning things on you really, really quickly.
"You can't exactly take anything for granted."
Phillips also credited the way the Blackcaps bowled, for being able to restrict an Indian top order, namely Suryakumar Yadav, that put the Kiwi attack to the sword in the series' second game at Mt Maunganui.
"But we managed to have three wickets in the powerplay," he continued. "It was a bit of a toss and turn in terms of which parts of the game ebbed and flowed.
"For the Indian boys it was at the back end, for us it was more at the front.
"At the end of the day, if they hadn't had lost those four wickets, they'd have been ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis.
"It's a little bit tit for tat."
