Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips' 219-run partnership seals New Zealand's first ODI series win in India; Kohli ton in vain

New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips (PTI Photo)

INDORE: It doesn’t matter if the colour of the ball is red or white, New Zealand still don’t seem to lose to India these days. Just over a year after they whitewashed India 3-0 to record their maiden Test series win in this country, the Black Caps, playing some outstanding cricket, created history again when they downed India by 41 runs in the third and deciding ODI at a packed Holkar Stadium on Sunday to record their first-ever ODI series win in India. The 2-1 verdict was an emphatic indicator of the visitors’ supremacy in this series.

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Considering that this was a heavily inexperienced Black Caps squad — eight players were touring India for the first time first time - this is surely an incredible achievement by the Kiwis. There was a debutant each in the first two matches and five players in the squad had played less than 10 ODIs before this tour. It was also India’s first ODI defeat at the Holkar Stadium, ending their run of seven wins here. Virat Kohli slammed his 54th ODI century, a blistering, gallant 124 (108b, 10x4, 3x6). For some time, the modern-day legend, along with allrounder Harshit Rana, who once again proved his worth by scoring his maiden half century 52 (43b, 4x4, 4x6, 3-84 in 10 overs), kept India in the contest with a fighting 99-run partnership off just 69 balls for the seventh wicket. However, once Henry Nicholls sprinted like a deer from long on to take a stunning grab to send Rana packing off a full toss by Zak Foulkes (3-54 in nine overs) in the 44th over, India folded up fast, losing their last four wickets for 19 runs in just 16 balls to finish at 296 in 46 overs. Besides Foulkes, two Kiwi bowlers playing their maiden international series — pacer Kristian Clarke (3-54) and left-arm spinner Jaydon Lennox (2-42) finished with five wickets. Asked to bat first on a belter, the visitors put up formidable total of 337 for eight, built on sparkling centuries by Daryl Mitchell (career-best 137 off 131 balls, 15x4, 3x6) and Glenn Phillips (106, 88b, 9x4, 3x6) and their match-turning 219-run partnership off 188 balls for the fourth wicket. Tottering at 71 for four in the 13th over, India were first provided a spark of hope by Kohli’s 88-run partnership in 88 balls for the fifth wicket with allrounder Nitsh Kumar Reddy (53, 57b, 2x4, 2x6). However, the Kiwis struck back with the wickets of Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja, who made 12 and conceded 0-41 in six overs, leaving his ODI future in huge doubt, especially with Axar Patel snapping at his heels. Chasing 338, India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma (23), Gill (23, 18b, 4x4), Shreyas Iyer (3) and Rajkot centurion KL Rahul (1) cheaply, before fighting back through Kohli’s determined knock and fifties by Reddy and Rana.

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