India vs New Zealand, 2nd ODI, New Zealand tour of India, 2026 - Commentary

Mind you, this isn't NZ's full-strength team by any means. They fought hard in Vadodara and it turned out to be a jittery chase for India. Today, the Kiwis cruised to a 7-wicket win on the back of on outstanding partnership between Mitchell and Young. India couldn't exert any sort of pressure once those two batters got together. The series is levelled at 1-1 and the decider will be played in Indore. We'll be back on Sunday to bring you all the action. For now, goodbye and good night..

Daryl Mitchell | Player of the Match: It's really nice to get the win. We haven't won here for a couple of years now. Nice for a younger group to see that you can challenge some of the best in the world. (purple patch against India) I'm just enjoying doing my job for my country. I love playing for New Zealand and any time you get the chance, it's pretty cool. Youngy, he's a class player, and I love batting with him. It was good fun out there. We had a bit of fun, but we also enjoy getting into the contest as well. So, I thought the way he went about his business, especially against the seam-up top early, it looked challenging. And then, he enjoyed the spinners and using all his options. It was good fun batting in the partnership and nice to get a big partnership as well. (Was it a plan to go after Kuldeep?) I think he's one of the best bowlers in the world. He can turn it both ways. He's got amazing skills. For us, it's trying to read situations and adapt to different situations. And we knew, with the balance of their bowling attack, that he's going to be a massive bowler for them. Trying to find ways to put pressure on him. I think he is one of the best in the world and he's had a lot of success. (how satisfying to be out there during the winning moment) That's my job as one of the senior batters on the side, is once you get in, you want to make the most of it and help us win games of cricket. So, it's always nice.

Michael Bracewell: It's a pretty complete performance from us. Very proud of the group's efforts. We were very happy at the halfway. I think we bowled really well as a group, a pretty typical Kiwi performance with the ball. We were happy to chase anything, really. They (Indian pacers) bowled really well and I thought the way that the guys out there adapted and soaked up some pressure was outstanding. And then the way they were able to apply the pressure later on, Youngy and Daryl there through the middle, just took the game away from India. (Was there a plan to go after Kuldeep?) No, we just back the guys out there to go out there and read what's in front of them. And they obviously read that beautifully tonight and wanted to put the spinners under pressure, it wasn't something that we spoke about, but we're trying to be adaptable and reading what's in front of us and taking the game on when it's required. Jayden bowled beautifully. It's never easy coming over here and making your debut and even harder when you have to bowl in the powerplay. So I thought the way that he just took to that was outstanding. It looked like he'd played many games.

Shubman Gill: We couldn't pick up any wickets in the middle overs. With five fielders in, if you don't keep taking wickets in the middle overs, it becomes very difficult even if we would have added 15-20 more runs. And if you don't pick up wickets in the middle overs, it's very difficult to stop a target. (what stalled India's innings) On these kind of wickets, as soon as you have a partnership, the set batsman has to make it big because it's not easy for the batsman coming in to score freely. In the end, we did get a decent target on the board and we bowled exceptionally well in the first 10 overs. And the kind of start that we got in the bowling, we were trying to squeeze them down, put them under pressure, but I think they batted really well in the middle overs. (thoughts on overall conditions) In the first 10-15 overs that we bowled, the ball was doing a little bit. But I think after the 20-25 overs, the wicket maybe settled in a little bit, but I think we could have been a little bit more brave while bowling in the middle overs. We could have taken a little bit more chances. (fielding lapses) Even in the last match, we let down a couple of chances. It's one thing that, we are always, especially with this team, we are always trying to get better at fielding. It's one aspect that we're always trying to get better at. And yes, if you don't take your chances, in this format, it always makes you lose.

Will Young: It was hugely satisfying, Smitty (Ian Smith) - but more satisfying was to get the win and share that partnership with Daryl was great fun. We kept each other going, in the end we did enough to create a platform to then finish it off at the end. (how satisfying was it to handle Kuldeep so well) India have two great spinners, Jadeja as well, so the first challenge was against him, Daryl and I got into a bit of a flow and the rate was around 7 when Kuldeep came on, so we thought there's an opportunity here to score and put some pressure back on them. We backed few different shots within the partnership, but it came off and that was pleasing. (did he know if it was a record chase) No, not at all. We didn't know it was a record chase or anything. After scoring 300 in the first game, we actually thought 285 was a nice number. It gave us the chance to soak up pressure at different times and put it back on India at different times - and in the end we managed to time the chase pretty well. (conversations between him and Mitchell) You go through the different phases of a partnership - sometimes it’s hard to score, sometimes it’s slightly easier - but I think you have to be honest with your partner. If you communicate clearly what you want to do, sort of bounce ideas off each other, you normally come to a middle somewhere, and that’s what Daryl and I managed to do. (love affair with India) I have been (working hard), unfortunately that's cricket, you can't always be as consistent as you like. I will be honest with you Smitty, the Black Caps have never won a one-day series here, we came really close in the first game, we got a sniff, so it was just getting fired up to win a game for New Zealand, and if there are runs to my name at the end of it then brilliant, but as I said before, the partnership with Daryl which I really enjoyed and it was nice to be playing in India. Obviously packed crowds, it is the home of cricket in a way, incredibly exciting to be a part of.

Daryl Mitchell’s last 4 ODI scores vs IND in India
130 (127)
134 (119)
84 (71)
131* (117) – today

Daryl Mitchell's innings today
vs Pace: 57 off 57 balls, SR: 100.0 (5x4s, 1x6s)
vs Spin: 74 off 60 balls, SR: 123.3 (6x4s, 1x6s)

– Daryl Mitchell attempted eight sweep shots against the Indian spinners and scored 18 runs (SR: 225.0) with the help of three boundaries.

– Daryl Mitchell scored 84 runs (57 balls, SR: 147.36) on the on side, just 47 runs (46 balls, SR: 102.17) towards the off side, and zero runs off 14 balls straight zone today.

– This is the first win for New Zealand against India after eight consecutive losses in ODIs since 2023. In India, this is also their first victory over India after eight successive ODI losses since 2017.

Highest successful chase by NZ vs IND (ODIs)
348 at Hamilton, 2020
307 at Auckland, 2022
297 at Mount Maunganui, 2020
285 at Rajkot, 2026*
281 at Wankhede, 2017

– This is the highest target successfully chased by New Zealand in India, bettering their 283-run chase against England in Ahmedabad in the opening game of CWC 2023.

– First win in 5 matches for the chasing side at Rajkot in ODIs.

15:57 GMT, 21:27 IST: Clinical chase from New Zealand and they level the series. India got to 284, thanks to KL Rahul's century and that seemed like a pretty good score as they struggled in the middle-overs due to the two-pace nature of the deck. The visitors, in reply, didn't get off to a flier either. Harshit Rana and Siraj bowled beautifully and beat both the edges on multiple occasions. Rana removed Conway for the second time this series and Nicholls failed to make an impact. At 46/2, Daryl Mitchell joined Will Young. The latter, who got off to a nervous start, started to the time the ball better after the arrival of the former. Mitchell continued from where he left in Vadodara. The pair didn't allow Kuldeep to settle, kept finding boundaries at regular intervals and ensured that the required rate was always under 7 RPO. Unlike the first innings, the pitch played better under lights as hoped by Bracewell at the toss. Kuldeep broke the 162-run stand as Young played a high-risk shot and perished on 87. Mitchell, however, carried on to record his 8th ODI century. While his previous two tons against India came in losing cause, NZ's No.4 ensured that he took his side home on this occasion. He had some fun towards the end with some funky strokes and fittingly hit the winning runs.

Prasidh is in pain but he'll continue...

Most runs conceded by Kuldeep in an ODI innings
84/2 vs NZ, Hamilton, 2020
84/0 vs ENG, Pune, 2021
82/1 vs NZ, Rajkot, 2026*
78/1 vs SA, Raipur, 2025