New Zealand 337 for 8 (Mitchell 137, Phillips 106, Arshdeep 3-63, Rana 3-84) beat India 296 (Kohli 124, Reddy 53, Rana 52, Clarke 3-54, Foulkes 3-77) by 41 runs
A little over a year since winning their first-ever Test series in this country, New Zealand have beaten India in India for the first time in an ODI series. Arriving with a squad severely depleted by injury, they have come from 1-0 down to win 2-1.
They achieved another impressive feat in completing the job in Indore, handing India a first defeat in 14 home ODIs where they have won the toss.
Daryl Mitchell, India’s foremost scourge, was at it again, scoring his second hundred of the series, his fourth against India, and his fourth in India. Glenn Phillips, who joined Mitchell at 58 for 3, scored an 88-ball 106 in a fourth-wicket stand of 219. That set things up perfectly for the bowlers, who, defending 337, reduced India to 71 for 4. An India, that too, without Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya, and with question marks hanging over everyone batting from No. 6 down.
Virat Kohli was still there, though, and he kept India believing, scoring his 54th ODI hundred and shepherding two young seam-bowling allrounders in Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana who scored their maiden ODI fifties. But the target was steep, India had to keep taking chances, and Kohli eventually fell short for only the fifth time in 29 hundreds in ODI chases.
