Virat Kohli shines in India's jittery chase

Virat Kohli's red hot form in 50-over cricket continued as his masterful 93 was instrumental in India taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand. In pursuit of 301 in the opening ODI, India were cruising in Vadodara for the major part of the run chase before Kohli's dismissal triggered a mini collapse from which the hosts eventually recovered to go past the finish line with an over left.

Kyle Jamieson and Zakary Foulkes kept things tight for New Zealand at the start of the run chase before Rohit Sharma broke the shackles with a six. Rohit then clobbered one more six against Jamieson and followed it up with a boundary to give India some momentum with Shubman Gill biding his time. But Rohit's surge came to a screeching halt when he mistimed one to get caught near mid-off after which it was the Virat Kohli show. India's No.3 began in cracking fashion and raced to 18 off just 15 before Gill finally came to the party with a six over long on against Adithya Ashok.

With Gill also growing in confidence, the partnership put India on the front foot in no time. The introduction of Michael Bracewell and Glenn Phillips didn't alter the course as both batters eventually managed to go past fifty. In the process, Kohli also went past 28,000 runs in international cricket and overtook Kumar Sangakkara to occupy the second spot in run aggregates across formats. Even after Gill's departure for 56, India were cruising with the returning Shreyas Iyer also getting into his stride right from the outset.

Ashok continued to leak runs as Iyer grew into his zone by taking down the leg spinner for a six, followed by two boundaries in the same over. By the end of the 35th over, victory appeared to be a foregone conclusion for the home side with a familiar sight of another Kohli ODI hundred very much in striking distance. However, against the run of play, Kohli fell seven short of his 54th ODI hundred and that gave the visitors an opening. Jamieson struck two more times, dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Iyer in quick succession to suddenly leave India reeling at 242/5. India's problems were further compounded by the absence of Washington Sundar, who had left the field in the first innings with a suspected back strain. As a result, Harshit Rana walked out to bat at a critical time.

Rana delivered a much-needed boundary for India and took full toll of a dropped chance in the following over before nailing a slower delivery from Kristian Clarke over deep midwicket. While KL Rahul remained watchful, Rana was consistently looking for runs to bring the required rate down before a top edge finally brought his downfall on 29. Washington did come out to bat eventually for the hosts but with his running hampered, he was content on picking singles alongside Rahul to drag the contest right until the end. Rahul then took charge and delivered the knockout punch in the penultimate over with successive boundaries before sealing the win with a big six.

Earlier in the day, half-centuries from three out of their top four helped New Zealand breach 300. The platform was laid courtesy a century opening stand between Henry Nicholls and Devon Conway. After a watchful start, Nicholls and Conway fetched a boundary each to get going. It was Conway then who took the upper hand by finding a boundary each in three successive overs before rounding off the powerplay with another one. Nicholls then got into the act as well and even brought out the reverse sweep to welcome Kuldeep Yadav into the attack.

The two batters then brought up their respective fifties off successive deliveries as New Zealand positioned themselves at 104/0 after 20 overs. With the platform now laid, Nicholls tried to take on Rana and hit him for back-to-back boundaries before a slower delivery brought an end to his stay. Rana struck again in his next over as well with Conway inside-edging one on to his stumps. With both set batters back in the pavilion, New Zealand needed another solid stand to revive their innings. However, a pace off ball from Mohammed Siraj resulted in another wicket with Will Young departing for 12.

Phillips was the next to fall as he miscued one against Kuldeep Yadav after the drinks break as the onus now fell on Daryl Mitchell to guide New Zealand in the second half of the innings. While Michael Hay did impress briefly, an inswinger from Prasidh saw him fall for 18. Mitchell managed to bring up his fifty in the same over in which he smashed Kuldeep over the ropes but India stormed back with the wickets of Bracewell and Foulkes in the space of four deliveries to peg New Zealand back. The topsy-turvy innings managed to finish on a positive note for the visitors as Mitchell went on a boundary-hitting spree to race to 84. Even though he fell with 14 deliveries left in the innings, New Zealand managed to drag themselves to 300/8.

Brief scores: New Zealand 300/8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62; Mohammed Siraj 2/40) lost to India 306/6 in 49 overs (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56; Kyle Jamieson 4/41) by 4 wickets.