Veteran batter Virat Kohli struck a commanding 74 off 51 balls after Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Anshul Kamboj’s scintillating bowling show as India beat New Zealand by five wickets in a rain-affected first ODI at Eden Park in Auckland on Wednesday.
India’s ‘inexperienced’ pace attack produced an impressive collective performance to bowl New Zealand out for 185 in 40.2 overs. In response, the visitors chased down a revised target of 143 in 22.4 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
India’s chase suffered an early setback when Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a six-ball duck by Kyle Jamieson in the opening over. However, Kohli joined skipper Shubman Gill to take control of the innings, with the pair building a match-defining partnership.
The chase was interrupted twice by rain, with the contest eventually reduced to 32 overs and India’s target revised to 143 under the DLS method. Kohli brought up his half-century after the second resumption, reaching the milestone off 35 deliveries with a powerful pull through mid-wicket in the 16th over.
The experienced batter continued to dominate New Zealand’s short-ball approach, striking 13 fours and a six. His innings also saw him move past Sachin Tendulkar to become the highest run-scorer in ODI run chases, taking his tally to 8,741 runs, compared to Tendulkar’s 8,720.
Gill provided steady support with 37 off 56 balls as the duo added a century partnership, their sixth 100-plus stand in 27 ODI innings together. New Zealand finally broke through when Nathan Smith had Gill caught behind for 37 in the 19th over.
Kohli, however, continued to keep India comfortably ahead of the required rate before Jacob Duffy dismissed him for 74, caught by Tim Seifert at deep backward square leg. Duffy struck again in the same over, removing Axar Patel for a duck, while Shreyas Iyer fell for 15 to give the hosts a late glimmer of hope.
But the result was never seriously in doubt. KL Rahul and Naman Dhir ensured there were no further complications, with the latter pulling Nathan Smith through mid-wicket for four to seal the win.
Earlier, Arshdeep Singh claimed four wickets, while Gurnoor Brar took three and Anshul Kamboj picked up two as India restricted New Zealand to 185. The hosts had no answers to the riddles and questions that India’s pace attack threw at them, as they were held to a paltry total to make things a tad bit easier for the visitors.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 185/10 in 40.2 overs (Tim Seifert 38, Blair Tickner 34; Arshdeep Singh 4-70, Gurnoor Brar 3-44, Anshul Kamboj 2-22) lose to India 143/5 in 22.4 overs, via DLS method (Virat Kohli 74, Shubman Gill 37; Jacob Duffy 3-49, Nathan Smith 1-21) by five wickets.
