Star India batter Virat Kohli grabbed the spotlight once again on Sunday with a commanding knock in India’s comfortable victory over New Zealand at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. The veteran scored 93 off 91 deliveries, anchoring the innings with authority. During his time at the crease, Kohli etched his name into the record books by becoming the fastest player to reach 28,000 international runs and climbing to second place on the all-time ODI run-scorers list, overtaking former Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara.
Courtesy of his scintillating knock, India won the match by four wickets while chasing 301 runs. Rohit Sharma handed a good start to the team, but he failed to capitalise on his 26. After he departed, Shubman Gill and Kohli stitched a formidable partnership of 118 runs, which gave India plenty of confidence. The captain made 56 runs before Adithya Ashok got the better of him.
After Gill walked back, Shryeas Iyer seemed to be in control. He returned to international cricket for the first time since the injury he suffered in Australia, and on the very first game, he looked in sublime touch, scoring 49 runs. At one point, India were expected to register an easy win in the middle, but things got complicated as Kyle Jamieson claimed four wickets.
However, Harshit Rana played a terrific cameo of 29 runs while batting at seven and KL Rahul made an unbeaten 29 runs to help India get the job done in the first ODI.
How the first innings progressed
Earlier in the day, Harshit also bowled well, claiming two wickets. Prasidh Krishna and the returning Mohammed Siraj also clinched two each. Siraj seemed to be in terrific rhythm as he played his first ODI since being dropped from the Champions Trophy squad. For New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell played an incredible knock of 84 runs, while openers Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls made 56 and 62 runs, respectively.
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