Auckland, Nov 4: Star batter Virat Kohli struck a fabulous 74 as India beat New Zealand by five wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series amid frequent rain interruptions here on Wednesday.
It was Kohli’s 80th fifty in the 50-over format, and came a day shy of his 38th birthday.
After India’s target was revised to 143 in 32 overs under DLS method following a couple of rain delays, Kohli and Gill (37) shared a 113-run alliance for the second wicket to take the visitors home.
India ended at 143 for five in 22.4 overs after some late fumble.
Earlier, the pace troika of Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar and Anshul Kamboj made the most of the conditions to rip through New Zealand as India bowled out the hosts for 185 in 40.2 overs.
Arshdeep (4/70), Gurnoor (3/44) and Anshul (2/22) exploited the overcast conditions to keep the New Zealand batters on the back-foot throughout their innings.
Opener Tim Seifert (38) offered some resistance at the top. Glenn Phillips (30) tried to steady the innings before Blair Tickner launched a counter-attack, smashing four sixes in a blistering 34 off 23 balls, but they could not even cross 200.
Brief scores: New Zealand 185 all out in 40.2 overs (Tim Seifert 38, Glenn Phillips 30, Blair Tickner 34; Arshdeep Singh 4/70, Gurnoor Brar 3/44, Anshul Kamboj 2/22) lost to India 143/5 in 22.4 overs (Virat Kohli 74; Jacob Duffy 3/49). (PTI)
