New Zealand face a Twenty20 series decider, after tumbling to a six-wicket defeat in their second match against India at Lucknow.
Opting to bat first, the Blackcaps failed to reach 100 in their innings, with none of their batters scoring 20 runs and an opening stand of 21 runs providing their biggest partnership.
Captain Mitch Santner was left not out on 19 - the Kiwis' highest individual score, with Arshdeep Singh the best of the Indian bowlers, taking 2/7 off his two overs.
But rather than cruise to victory, the home side lost four wickets in their chase and only achieved their target off the penultimate ball of their 20 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav became the only batter to surpass 20 runs, scoring 26 not out. Spinners Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi took a wicket each, while the other two wickets to fall were runouts.
India needed six runs off their final over for victory, with Blackcaps rookie Blair Tickner bowling, but Tickener dropped a sharp caught-and-bowled chance from Yadav off the third ball.
Fielder Finn Allen missed another runout chance off the next ball, with Hardik Pandya stranded midpitch, before Yadav cleared midoff for the winning boundary.
"It was a great game of cricket," reflected Santner. "We bowled well, got really close... another 10-15 runs would have helped.
"With the bounce out there, it looked quite challenging. When you are batting, you are not too sure what's a good score.
"We were looking at 14-160, when 120 would have been a good score."
Indian captain Pandya was less complimentary, describing the pitch as a "shocker".
After New Zealand's 21-run victory in the opener, the three-match series will now be decided at Ahmedabad on Thursday morning (NZ time).
NZ 99/8 (Santner 19no; Arshdeep 2/7) India 101/4 (Yadav 26no; Bracewell 1/13)
India win by six wickets
