New Zealand came into this tour knowing that India were in prime form, and a team that wouldn’t be easy to beat. The Kiwis didn’t let the reputation shake them. They bowled quite well, and shocked the Indians with the bat. The Taylor-Latham partnership just didn’t give the Indian bowlers any chance to find a breakthrough and pave the way for a collapse of any kind. Latham in particular, played the spinners beautifully, while Taylor brought in all his experience into this chase. After a shaky start, the Kiwis paced the chase to perfection to take the lead in the series.

Virat Kohli won the toss and promptly decided to bat first. He felt that the pitch was a placid one to bat on, and runs would come in plenty. He was soon to find otherwise, though! India got off to a sound start, but Dhawan was done in by some sharp bounce that Boult generated. Rohit Sharma made a promising start. He took his fellow Mumbai Indians teammate, Tim Southee on early in the innings. Southee bowled a bouncer which Rohit pulled, and top-edged for a six over fine leg. On the following delivery, Rohit was presented with another short one. This time, he dispatched it with authority and sent the ball flying over the fine leg fielder.

The joy was short-lived, as Rohit was bowled off an in-swinger by Boult. The left-arm quick accounted for both the Indian openers and put them in a spot of bother. Kedar Jadhav joined Kohli and hung in with the skipper for a while. However, Jadhav couldn’t last longer as he handed a simple return catch to Mitchell Santner. Dinesh Karthik who came into the playing XI gave able support to his skipper. The two put on a fifty-stand and helped India out of danger.

Karthik & Kohli played a few fluent strokes as they took India past 100. Just when it looked like Karthik would make his comeback count, he played a careless, aerial pull shot that got him caught on 37. The pitch was proving to be a two-paced track, and shots weren’t easy to pull off. Kohli assessed the conditions well, as he went past his half-century. He wasn’t going hard with his shots, and played the ball on its merit.

India had abundance of experience in the middle, with Dhoni & Kohli steering the ship together. They milked the bowlers smartly, and ran well between the wickets. Dhoni scored 25 runs, but was shocked when he smashed a short delivery straight to Guptill at point. He couldn’t believe that he found the fielder with such precision.

Kohli inched closer to his century and with the death overs upon India, he had to play some shots too. He took calculative risks, while Hardik Pandya decided to hit full throttle from the word go. Kohli got to his 31st ODI ton in style, and went past Ricky Ponting in the process. He also became, just the second batsman to score a ton in his 200th ODI. Another record that Kohli claimed was that of the most runs scored in a calendar year as Indian captain. He went past Mohammad Azharuddin who had amassed 1268 runs in 1998.

Hardik Pandya fell to a fantastic catch taken by the Kiwi skipper, Kane Williamson. He ran backwards, and called for the catch. He had to put in a full-stretch dive to get to the ball and clutched on to it with his fingertips. With Kohli tiring, Bhuvneshwar Kumar took up the mantle of going for the big hits. He did so with considerable amount of success. Kohli smashed a couple of clean hits himself, while Bhuvi ensured that the final few overs counted for India. The team total surged up to 280 courtesy a few meaty blows by Bhuvi who has transformed into quite a handful with the bat. New Zealand were faced with a difficult chase, as the pitch wasn’t easiest to play strokes at will.

Colin Munro was slated to be Martin Guptill’s new opening pair, something Munro was doing for the first time in his ODI career. He decided to take on India’s pace spearhead, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Munro’s attacking strokeplay got the Kiwis off to a fine start. Martin Guptill didn’t waste much time either. The Kiwis looked on track in the first ten overs. Munro was even helped by a life that was given by Kedar Jadhav who dropped a catch that should’ve been taken, in the deep.

Jasprit Bumrah who was bowling quite well, gave India the first breakthrough. He bowled a deceptive slower one to induce a false stroke by Munro. Dinesh Karthik took a good catch beyond the ring at cover. Guptill survived a close shout, when he was adjudged out, lbw. He took the reviw immediately, knowing that he had got an inside edge before the ball hit his pad. Soon after, the Indians had more reason to rejoice, when Kuldeep Yadav forced Kane Williamson to play a loose shot, having him caught at cover. All of a sudden, the Kiwis were two down and had to get their chase back on track.

Hardik Pandya was introduced into the attack, and he stuck to tight line and length in his first spell. The pacer was awarded with the wicket of Martin Guptill, who tried to pull a short delivery. Hardik had been troubling Guptill with constant in-dippers that the batsman kept on missing. Karthik took a good catch after initially misjudging the ball. The Kiwis had lost their top 3 batsmen and the onus was on the experienced Ross Taylor and the in-form Tom Latham.

The duo took their time against Kuldeep Yadav & Yuzvendra Chahal. The ball was turning and not coming on to the bat too often. Latham seemed like the more settled of the pair, while Taylor took a long time to find his touch. The pair gradually started picking up singles and the odd boundary. The partnership grew and so did India’s worries, as a wicket seemed tough to find. Both Taylor & Latham got to their half-centuries and brought up the century stand as well. The target was brought under 100 and seemed within the Kiwis’ reach. India were in desperate need of a wicket.

Virat Kohli tried changing his bowlers, and got his pacers on. However, Bhuvi & Bumrah couldn’t get the required breakthrough. Taylor & Latham began dominating the bowlers by taking the aerial route on a few occasions. The calculative risks paid off and boundaries were found with ease. The duo constantly began picking 6 to 8 runs in an over, on average. Tom Latham raced away to a well-deserved century! Taylor survived a close shout for an LBW off Bumrah’s bowling. India took the review, but the ball was clipping leg stump, which upheld the umpire’s call. However, in an attempt to get to his ton, Taylor perished when he smashed a ball to cover, on 95. Henry Nicholls came in and finished the game with a boundary.

Team India were stunned after scoring a very good total on the board, and Virat Kohli’s century went in vain. The Indian spinners couldn’t trouble the Kiwi batsmen, the way they did against the Aussies. The series against the Aussies may have been one-sided, but the Kiwis have shown that they won’t be tamed easily. The Indians were tested in the first ODI, and will have to fight back in the second, which will be played in Pune on Wednesday, 25th October.