Being at the right headspace is a big part of Virat Kohli’s preparation. By his own admission, at this stage of his career, Kohli’s cricket is “all mental”. Of late, he has been in a happy space, batting with a smile. The freedom and ease have been making his batting wonderfully easy on the eye. On Sunday, against New Zealand in Vadodara, the master batsman completed 28,000 international runs and went on to score 93 off 91 balls.
All the while, it felt like a glorified nets session. The first 20 balls he faced, Kohli hit six fours. He toyed with leg-spinner Adithya Ashok and treated debutant seamer Kristian Clarke with contempt. Not even once did he look like getting out until Michael Bracewell dived to his right at mid-off and took a mistimed drive off Kyle Jamieson. Kohli missed his 54th ODI hundred by a whisker and more than 30,000 fans at the BCA Stadium were stunned. They collectively went to the mute mode. Jamieson, by the way, returned with his career-best, 4/41 from 10 overs.
That, however, was one of few false shots from Kohli. Otherwise, it feels like circa 2018 is back again, when Kohli used to score runs for fun. Even in 2026, he is India’s best batsman in this format, by a country mile.
And these days, he doesn’t even (over) celebrate his achievements. The only time he behaved like a wide-eyed teenager was when Glenn Phillips flew to his left to grab an aerial cut from Shubman Gill. The shot had “four” written all over it. For Phillips, though, it turned out to be a dropped catch. TV cameras captured Kohli in the dressing room, holding his head in disbelief. Out there in the middle, Gill broke into a smile. It was his way of tipping his hat to the world’s best outfielder – the modern-day Jonty Rhodes.
India returned from the series opener with a bagful of positives. Rohit Sharma looked to be in fine fettle through a pulled six and a couple of vintage Rohit fours. But maybe, the former India captain became a tad overconfident, stepping out and trying to go inside-out against Jamieson. A promising innings was nipped in the bud.
As for Gill, India’s current ODI skipper came into this game on the heels of his T20 World Cup snub. And initially it looked like he was under pressure – 13 off 27 balls at one stage. Then, he flicked a switch and unleashed a flurry of exquisite strokes – a shot-arm pull, a lofted drive over long-on for a six and a forcing shot off the back foot past the bowler for a four. Soon he was batting on 36 off 46 balls. The pressure was released.
Gill scored 56 off 71 balls and added 118 runs (107 deliveries) with Kohli for the second wicket. It set up India’s win, notwithstanding that they lost the wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja on the back of Kohli’s departure and things became a little tight towards the end. Shreyas, in his comeback game, batted fluently and made 49 off 47 balls – another positive for the hosts.
Earlier, New Zealand posted 300/8 in 50 overs. India came back well after a 117-run opening partnership between Devon Conway (56) and Henry Nicholls (62). New Zealand’s total was 30 runs below par on a placid pitch, but the inability of India’s new-ball bowlers to take early wickets in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah remains a concern. Harshit Rana is still relatively young in international cricket and he at least has shown some signs of progress through his all-round contributions. Prasidh Krishna, yet again, was India’s most expensive bowler, with an economy rate of 6.66. Is Mohammed Shami even worse?
Another concern for the hosts could be Washington Sundar, who suffered a side strain and left the field midway into New Zealand’s innings. Although he came out to bat at No. 8, after Rana, the left-hand batter was struggling to run between the wickets. An update on his fitness is due.
India won by four wickets with an over to spare. As far as the tourists are concerned, their old hands played well, Daryl Mitchell top-scoring with 84 off 71 balls.
Brief scores: New Zealand 300/8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62, Devon Conway 56; Mohammed Siraj 2/40, Harshit Rana 2/65, Prasidh Krishna 2/60) lost to India 306/6 in 49 overs (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56; Kyle Jamieson 4/41) by 4 wickets.
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