SportsPosted at: Nov 4 2026 5:24PM


Kohli masterclass, pacers’ effort help India to 1-0 lead against NZ

Tridib Baparnash
New Delhi, Nov 4 (UNI) A vintage Virat Kohli innings after an impressive display by the young pace bowling unit powered India to a five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the rain-affected first ODI at Eden Park on Wednesday, giving the tourists a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Arshdeep Singh led the bowling effort with four wickets, while fellow Punjab quick Gurnoor Brar claimed three and Anshul Kamboj chipped in with two for 22 to dismiss New Zealand for 185.
Kohli, who will turn 38 on Thursday, then took charge of the chase with a fluent 74 off 51 balls, guiding India to the revised target of 143 in 22.4 overs by DLS method, and handing New Zealand a rare defeat in the opening match of a home ODI series. The hosts had not lost the first ODI of a home series in 12 attempts. The previous instance was also against India, in January 2019, which remains New Zealand's last series defeat at home.
Kohli's innings made the difference on a surface that offered considerably more assistance to the seamers than expected. Eden Park had been billed as a high-scoring venue, but the pitch was quicker and had more bounce than New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner had anticipated. While several batters struggled against the hard length, Kohli repeatedly turned it into a scoring option.
He made 43 runs off 25 balls against deliveries pitched back of a length or shorter, striking seven fours and a six. The rest of the batters combined managed only 108 off 150 deliveries against similar lengths, losing seven wickets in the process.
Earlier, India’s bowlers had set up the chase by restricting New Zealand to 185 in 40.2 overs. Punjab quicks Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar shared seven wickets between them while Anshul Kamboj turned out the most economical, giving away only 22 from his 10 overs to earn the Player of the Match award.
New Zealand's total could have been considerably lower but for a late fightback from Blair Tickner and Jacob Duffy. Their 39-run stand for the last wicket was the highest partnership of the innings, with Tickner contributing four sixes.
After a shower delayed the toss by 10 minutes, Shubman Gill elected to field under overcast conditions. Arshdeep made an early impact, removing Will Young and Henry Nicholls with short-pitched deliveries inside the first nine overs.
Brar continued the pressure after coming into the attack in the 13th over, dismissing Tim Seifert and Tom Latham. Daryl Mitchell, who had enjoyed a remarkable run against India with four centuries and two fifties in his previous seven innings, was run out following a misunderstanding with Glenn Phillips. Rohit Sharma's sharp throw completed the dismissal.
Kamboj then made effective use of the wobble ball to break through twice in three overs. Santner inside-edged one onto his pad, with the ball spinning back to hit the stumps, before Nathan Smith edged behind to be caught by a diving Kohli at second slip. New Zealand were reduced to 115 for 7.
Phillips, who made 30 off 51 balls, could not take the innings deep as Arshdeep eventually dismissed him. Tickner's late assault, including four sixes, helped New Zealand push their score beyond 180.
Virat-Shubman stand after Rohit’s duck
India's reply got off to the worst possible start when Rohit Sharma chipped Kyle Jamieson to mid-off for a six-ball duck in the opening over. Kohli and Gill initially found it difficult to counter the movement, and New Zealand managed to keep the scoring in check.
Kohli broke the shackles and a 19-ball boundary drought with a pull off Duffy before driving Jamieson over extra cover. At 55 for 1 in the 11th over, rain interrupted play for the first time. India returned needing 167 from 40 overs, but another stoppage followed after just seven deliveries. Gill even approached umpire Paul Reiffel to complain about the difficulty in sighting the ball.
The second interruption reduced the contest to 32 overs and brought India's target down to 143. Kohli immediately raised the tempo, punishing the short-pitched bowling that had troubled the other batters. He pulled Jamieson for four and Tickner for six before reaching his 80th ODI half-century off 35 balls, his second-fastest in away matches.
Gill, who had taken longer to settle, played the supporting role as the pair added 113 runs for the second wicket. It was their sixth century partnership in 27 ODI innings together and left India needing just 29 more runs.
New Zealand briefly threatened to make a contest of the finish. Gill top-edged a pull off Smith, and Kohli fell in the next over after charging at Duffy and hitting him for four before miscuing a short ball to deep square leg. Duffy then removed Axar Patel for a duck, with Phillips taking a superb one-handed catch at backward point.
India had lost three wickets for 10 runs in 11 deliveries, but the damage came too late. They remained 45 runs ahead of the DLS par score at the end of the 20th over. Shreyas Iyer struck Duffy for a six before falling for 15, and Naman Dhir sealed the win with a pulled boundary.
Brief scores: New Zealand 185 in 40.2 overs (Tim Seifert 38, Blair Tickner 34; Arshdeep Singh 4/70, Gurnoor Brar 3/44, Anshul Kamboj 2/22) lost to India 143/5 in 22.4 overs (Virat Kohli 74; Jacob Duffy 3/49) by five wickets (DLS method).UNI TB AAB
Tags: #Kohli masterclass# pacers’ effort help India to 1-0 lead against NZ
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