A young pace unit headlined by the imposing Gurnoor Brar scarred New Zealand with disconcerting bounce before Virat Kohli decided to celebrate his 38th birthday a day in advance by striking a chiselled 74 as India earned an easy five-wicket win in the rain-curtailed first ODI here on Wednesday.
The 6 feet 5 inches tall Gurnoor repaid skipper Shubman Gill’s faith by intimidating the home batters with his speed and bounce in the company of Arshdeep Singh as the visitor dismissed the Black Caps for a below-par 185 in 40.2 overs.
India reached the revised target of 143 in 22.4 overs with Kohli’s 51-ball knock, comprising 13 boundaries and a maximum, doing bulk of the damage.
With India’s first choice troika of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna not available due to workload management and injury-related issues, it was the Punjab duo of Arshdeep (4/70 in 10 overs) and Gurnoor (3/44 in 9.2 overs), which took up the mantle of unsettling the Black Caps.
The unusually short and straight dimensions of the ground do create issues but Arshdeep hit the perfect length, bowling to the field with relentless accuracy.
Anshul Kamboj (2/22 in 10 overs) was also superbly steady during middle overs, something that will make head coach Gautam Gambhir proud of his punt to go in with three literal greenhorns. He bowled an eye-popping 46 dot balls in his 10-over spell.
In pursuit of the modest target, Kohli’s controlled aggression made all the difference for India after the early fall of Rohit Sharma (0).
Despite multiple rain interruptions, Kohli’s intensity was unwavering as he played his customary cover drives, the whips through mid-wicket and the imperious pull-shots — both short arm and also over the top.
IND vs NZ, 1st ODI – As it happened
The Indian maestro, who will turn 38 on Thursday, hit his 80th ODI half-century in the company of Gill (37), who played the second fiddle to perfection.
They added 113 for the second wicket after Rohit was dismissed for a six-ball duck.
The best shot that Kohli hit was certainly when he stood upright and punched Blair Tickner through the covers. Kohli decided to ‘tick off’ Tickner in his special style with a plethora of boundaries. The supple wrists were at work and the crowd went back home happy.
Bowlers excel
However, the story of the day was India’s four-pronged pace attack with a cumulative experience of 29 ODIs that made life miserable for the home team on a good batting surface and straight boundaries.
Published on Nov 04, 2026
