Indore: ‘Chasemaster’ Virat Kohli almost pulled off a miracle in the third and final ODI here on Sunday night.
Chasing an imposing target of 338 in the series decider, Team India were let down by the soft dismissals of three of their top five – Rohit Sharma (11), Shreyas Iyer (3) and KL Rahul (1).
At 71/4, and then 178/6, the men in blue looked down and out. But the indomitable Kohli, in the form of his life at the age of 37, refused to give up. An 88-run partnership with Nitish Reddy (53 off 57 balls, 2×4, 2×6) for the fifth wicket and an exhilarating 99-run collaboration with Harshit Rana (52 off 43, 4×4, 4×6) gave India hope as Kohli marched to his 54th ODI century, which was his 85th in international cricket.
Kohli was the ninth man to be dismissed as he mistimed a lofted drive after making 124 glorious runs, which came off 108 balls, and were studded with 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Four overs remained, but the champion batter ran out of partners as India lost by 41 runs.
It marked India’s first-ever home ODI series defeat in 37 years against New Zealand. All the more credit to the Black Caps as they had lost the first match.
After their first-ever Test series triumph on Indian soil in October-November 2024, that too, an unprecedented 3-0 sweep, this is another blot in coach Gautam Gambhir’s CV.
New Zealand had centurions Daryll Mitchell (137 off 131, 15×4, 3×6) and Glenn Phillips (106 off 88, 9×4, 3×6) to thank in the high-scoring game on a small ground. The duo hit centuries, pulling New Zealand up from 5/2 to 337/8, courtesy a 219-run fourth-wicket stand.
For Mitchell, it was back-to-back hundreds, earning him both the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards.
BRIEF SCORES
New Zealand 337/8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 137, Glenn Phillips 106; Arshdeep Singh 3/63, Harshit Rana 3/84).
India 296 in 46 overs (Virat Kohli 124, Nitish Reddy 53, Harshit Rana 52; Kristian Clarke 3/54, Zak Foulkes 3/77).
Player of the Match: Daryl Mitchell
Player of the Series: Daryl Mitchell
Result: NZ beat India by 41 runs
Series result: NZ won 2-1.
