Kohli heroics in vain as New Zealand complete historic series win

A fighting 54th ODI century from Virat Kohli went in vain as New Zealand sealed their first bilateral ODI series win in India with an impressive display in Indore. New Zealand were propelled by another century from Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips helped himself to his second ODI ton as well to help them post a massive total. While India's hopes appeared to end early, Kohli managed to drag the contest right until the end alongside Nitsh Reddy and Harshit Rana, only for India to fall short by 41 runs.

India had actually put New Zealand under the pump very early in the game. A late call from Henry Nicholls to leave his first ball of the match cost him dearly as the ball clattered into the stumps after an inside edge. Three balls later, Devon Conway edged Rana's first ball straight to first slip to leave New Zealand stuttering at 5/2 after just seven deliveries into the contest. That meant the onus was on the man in form Mitchell again to resurrect his side. Mitchell and Will Young got New Zealand going with a boundary almost every over in the powerplay to allay any fears of a massive collapse.

Even though Rana broke the promising stand with Young's wicket, it didn't really deter New Zealand as Mitchell joined forces with Phillips to turn the contest around. While Phillips was initially content to get himself in, Mitchell used his feet against Kuldeep Yadav to perfection to hammer the wrist spinner's first ball for a six.

In no time, Mitchell brought up another half-century in the series but New Zealand's run rate at the halfway mark was still hovering close to only 5. Phillips, who was batting on 22 off 27 at this point, finally broke free with a boundary against Mohammad Siraj and quickly followed it up with a six off Arshdeep Singh and that got him going as he also hit Nitish for successive boundaries immediately to move into the 40s.

Mitchell then turned on the heat with boundaries against Ravindra Jadeja whereas Phillips at the other end managed to drag his strike rate beyond 100. And when Mitchell brought up his ninth ODI ton, New Zealand had positioned themselves for a massive finish. The two batters absolutely toyed around the hosts' bowling attack, dealing in fours and sixes and the result of that was Phillips reaching his landmark impressively off just 83 deliveries.

Arshdeep and Siraj finally struck in successive overs to remove both the centurions but the damage had already been done. India did pull things back a touch at the death with more wickets but Michael Bracewell ensured his side didn't capitulate in the end as his unbeaten 28 helped them finish on a strong note.

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill then combined to find the boundary five times inside the first four overs to try and set the tone early in the chase but New Zealand nipped the bud quite early by dismissing both the openers in the powerplay. While Rohit hit one straight to mid-on, Gill was bowled by a peach from Kyle Jamieson. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul didn't make an impression either as they combined for just four runs to leave India reeling at 71/4.

Amidst all this, Virat Kohli at the other end looked in great touch yet again. Kohli hammered a pull early in his innings to fetch a six and then followed it up with a few boundaries to race to 27 off just 25 despite losing partners. New Zealand found themselves a bowler short with skipper Bracewell leaving the field due to a calf injury but with four frontline Indian batters already back in the pavilion, they fancied their chances to close this down without a fuss. But a determined Kohli kept India in the hunt with two big partnerships. He first joined forces with Nitish Reddy to stabilise the innings before the allrounder smashed two sixes in two overs to bring up his maiden half-century in ODI cricket.

Against the run of play, New Zealand struck with the impressive Kristian Clarke getting rid of Nitish. Jayden Lennox also went through an impressive spell and he was rewarded with Jadeja's wicket that left Kohli stranded. But yet again, just when it appeared like India would throw in the towel, Kohli was well supported by Rana. Both Kohli and Rana went on a boundary-hitting spree much to the delight of the crowd. In the process, Kohli brought up his century and the equation came down to 108 from the final 10 overs. It is at this juncture where New Zealand received a jolt with Rana going berserk.

Rana clubbed a couple of sixes and found the boundaries as well regularly as India managed 40 runs in just three overs to put themselves in a great position to hunt down the target. One Zakary Foulkes over dented the hosts big time as he ended Rana's heroics and removed Siraj next ball, leaving Kohli to do it all on his own. While he did make an attempt and fetch a couple of boundaries, one miscue was all it took for his enterprising innings and with that. India's hopes to come to an end.

Brief scores: New Zealand 337/8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 137, Glenn Phillips 106; Arshdeep Singh 3/63) beat India 296 in 46 overs (Virat Kohli 124, Nitish Reddy 53; Kristian Clarke 3/54) by 41 runs