VADODARA: Virat Kohli hit 93 to help India chase down 301 in a tense four-wicket win over New Zealand in the first one-day international on Sunday.

The in-form Kohli struck his 77th ODI half-century as he became the second leading run-scorer in international cricket with a total of 28,068 runs.

With his dismissal, India slipped from 234-2 to 242-5 before they reached their target with six balls to spare in Vadodara.

Skipper Shubman Gill made 56 in a 118-run second wicket stand with Kohli, who shared another strong partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who made 49.

Late cameos by Harshit Rana (29) and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, who made an unbeaten 29 including the winning six, secured an Indian lead in the three-match series 1-0.

New Zealand pace spearhead Kyle Jamieson stood out with figures of 4-41.

Kohli led the chase as he went past Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs) to move second in the list of leading run-scorers in the international game, behind fellow Indian Sachin Tendulkar (34,357).

“My journey has been nothing short of a dream-come-true for me,” Kohli said after being named man of the match.

“I look at my journey with grace and gratitude. With the way I am playing at the moment, I am not looking at milestones. Only thing in my mind was to help the team win.” The 37-year-old Kohli only plays the ODI format after he and fellow stalwart Rohit Sharma, 38, retired from T20 and Test cricket.

Rohit started strongly in his brisk 26 before he fell to New Zealand’s Jamieson.

The packed crowd welcomed Kohli with a huge roar as the star batter joined Gill at the crease to take the attack to the opposition.

He was ably supported by Gill, who has returned from an injury and a snub by the selectors from the T20 World Cup squad.

Gill started slowly before he gained pace to raise his 16th ODI fifty but soon fell to rookie leg-spinner Adithya Ashok.

Kohli was denied a ton by Jamieson, who got the batter caught out at mid-off. The former captain walked back to a standing ovation.

Jamieson dismissed Ravindra Jadeja, for four, in the same over and in the next bowled Iyer to raise New Zeala­nd’s hopes of a turnaround.

India’s troubles increased with injury to Washington Sundar, who suffered a side strain while bowling his off-spin and came out to bat at number eight.

India were helped by a couple of drop­ped catches by an otherwise brilliant New Zealand fielding team.

Rana survived a reprieve on 12 by Daryl Mitchell.

“We can be proud of our effort,” said skipper Michael Bracewell.

“Taking the number one team in the world to the last over was a pretty good effort. If we could have got 320-330 then it would have been the difference.

“We talk about ma­tch-changing mom­e­nts in the field, if we had taken those then it would have been different,” Bracewell said.

Earlier, New Zealand posted 300-8 after Mitchell hit 84 to defy the Indian bowlers following the hosts’ decision to field first.

Openers Devon Conway, who made 56, and Henry Nicholls (62) put on 117 but New Zealand suffered from a lack of major partnerships after their big opening stand. Pace bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Rana and Prasidh Kris­hna took two wickets each.

The second match is on Wednesday in Rajkot.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND:
D. Conway b Rana 56
H. Nicholls c Rahul b Rana 62
W. Young c Rahul b Siraj 12
D. Mitchell lbw Krishna 84
G. Phillips c Iyer b Yadav 12
M. Hay b Krishna 18
M. Bracewell run out 16
Z. Foulkes b Siraj 1
K. Clarke not out 24
K. Jamieson not out 8

EXTRAS (W-7) 7
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 300
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-117 (Nicholls), 2-126 (Conway), 3-146 (Young), 4-170 (Phillips), 5-198 (Hay), 6-237 (Bracewell), 7-239 (Foulkes), 8-281 (Mitchell)
DID NOT BAT: A. Ashok
BOWLING: Siraj 8-0-40-2 (1w), Rana 10-0-65-2 (4w), Sundar 5-0-27-0, Krishna 9-0-60-2, Yadav 9-0-52-1 (1w), Jadeja 9-0-56-0 (1w)

INDIA:
R. Sharma c Bracewell b Jamieson 26
S. Gill c Phillips b Ashok 56
V. Kohli c Bracewell b Jamieson 93
S. Iyer b Jamieson 49
R. Jadeja c Clarke b Jamieson 4
K. L Rahul not out 29
H. Rana c Hay b Clarke 29
W. Sundar not out 7

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-9) 13
TOTAL (for six wkts, 49 overs) 306
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-39 (Sharma), 2-157 (Gill), 3-234 (Kohli), 4-239 (Jadeja), 5-242 (Iyer), 6-279 (Rana)
DID NOT BAT: K. Yadav, M. Siraj, P. Krishna
BOWLING: Jamieson 10-1-41-4 (4w), Foulkes 10-0-49-0, Ashok 6-0-55-1, Clarke 10-0-73-1, Bracewell 8-0-56-0 (3w), Phillips 4-0-21-0, Mitchell 1-0-7-0 (1w)
RESULT: India won by four wickets.
PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Virat Kohli

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2026