Indore: Virat Kohli’s 54th ODI century went in vain as New Zealand produced a superb display at the Holkar Stadium to clinch India’s first ever bilateral ODI series.
Centuries from Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips helped New Zealand reach a huge total, and despite Kohli’s heroics along with Nitish Reddy and Harshit Rana, India fell by 41 runs.
India started the match strongly, putting New Zealand under immediate pressure. Henry Nicholls decided to leave his first delivery as the ball hit the stumps after the inside edge.
Three balls later, Devon Conway edged Harshit Rana’s first ball at first slip as New Zealand reeled at 5-2 inside seven balls.
The onus fell on Daryl Mitchell to revive the innings and he along with Will Young found the boundary in almost every over in the powerplay to stabilize the innings.
While Rana broke a promising partnership with Young’s dismissal, Mitchell combined with Glenn Phillips to change the match. Mitchell’s aggressive stroke against Kuldeep Yadav set the tone, including a six off the spinner’s first ball.
With New Zealand’s run rate at 5 per over, Mitchell reached another half-century in the second half.
Struggling early on, Phillips picked up the pace with fours and sixes, reaching his second ODI century off 83 balls.
Despite Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Siraj scoring centuries in successive overs, New Zealand had already built up a formidable total. In the end Michael Bracewell’s unbeaten 28 saw the visitors finish strong.
Chasing a big score, India got off to a flying start as Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill found the boundary five times in four overs.
However, New Zealand dismissed the openers in the powerplay. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul combined for just four runs, leaving India at 71/4.
Kohli, once again in excellent touch, anchored the innings. He steadied the ship first with Nitish Reddy contributing to his maiden ODI half-century before being dismissed by Christian Clarke.
Harshit Rana then staged a spirited battle with Kohli, with both batsmen hitting boundaries to the delight of the home crowd. Kohli brought up his century to reduce India’s deficit to 108 runs in the last 10 overs.
Rana’s aggressive stroke play in the following overs kept India within striking distance, but Zachary Foulkes ended his heroics in the over by dismissing Siraj. Kohli tried valiantly but failed as India conceded the game by 41 runs.