India bounced back from their heavy defeat on Wednesday to square the Twenty20 series with New Zealand on Friday.
They triumphed in Auckland by seven wickets to set up a decider on Sunday in the three-match series in Hamilton.
Chasing 159 to win, an opening stand of 79 between captain Rohit Sharma (50) and Shikhar Dhawan (30) set up a comfortable win, with Rishabh Pant (40 not out) and MS Dhoni (20 not out) seeing them home.
Earlier, New Zealand's innings had slumped to 50-4 as Krunal Pandya did the damage for India.
A stand of 77 for the fifth wicket between Colin de Grandhomme (50) and Ross Taylor (42) gave the hosts something to bowl at as they made 158-8, but that proved not enough to deny India.
New Zealand had won the first game in Hamilton by 80 runs.