IND vs NZ 1st ODI: Virat Kohli’s brilliant knock powers India towards dashing win against New Zealand

India played the first ODI against New Zealand at BCA Stadium, Kotambi in Vadodara. Shubman Gill won the toss and opted to bowl first – this was the first time in years that India won two consecutive tosses in ODIs. Batting first New Zealand posted a total of 300 runs with Devon Conway (56), Henry Nicholls (62) and Daryl Mitchell (84) emerging as the top batters.

While bowling, Harshit Rana brought in early breakthroughs and picked two crucial wickets followed by Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna who also took two important wickets. The momentum changed when India came in to bat as the batters looked in great control. First Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill formed the foundation partnership but soon Rohit was dismissed at the score of 26.

Coming in to bat at number three Virat Kohli once again opted for an aggressive approach and smashed half-century following which Gill also came over his rough patch and smashed a calm fifty. When Gill got dismissed at 56, Shreyas Iyer came to bat and displayed his lethal form by smashing consistent boundaries. One of the major milestones that Virat Kohli achieved in this match was – that he completed 28,000 international runs.

Virat Kohli settled the innings and was batting at the score of 93 when he was caught by MichaeL Bracewell and dismissed by Kyle Jamieson – a valiant knock just short of a century. Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed for just 4 runs off 5 balls, caught by Kristian Clarke off Kyle Jamieson, giving New Zealand a crucial breakthrough. Shreyas Iyer also turned out to unlucky as he missed his half-century by one run and was dismissed at 49. Harshit Rana also tried to anchor the innings but was out after scoring 29 runs.

KL Rahul and Washington Sundar handled with run-a-ball at the end and took India towards the finishing line. Rahul gave India a brilliant finish and sealed the game with a six as India won the first ODI by 4 wickets.