A little over a year since winning their first-ever Test series in this country, New Zealand have beaten India in India for the first time in an ODI series. Arriving with a squad severely depleted by injury, they have come from 1-0 down to win 2-1.

They achieved another impressive feat in completing the job in Indore, handing India a first defeat in 14 home ODIs where they have won the toss.

Daryl Mitchell India’s foremost scourge, was at it again, scoring his second hundred of the series, his fourth against India, and his fourth in India. Glenn Phillips, who joined Mitchell at 58 for 3, scored an 88-ball 106 in a fourth-wicket stand of 219. That set things up perfectly for the bowlers, who, defending 337, reduced India to 71 for 4. An India, that too, without Axar Patel and Hardik Pandya, and with question marks hanging over everyone batting from No. 6 down.

Virat Kohli was still there, though, and he kept India believing, scoring his 54th ODI hundred and shepherding two young seam-bowling allrounders in Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana who scored their maiden ODI fifties. But the target was steep, India had to keep taking chances, and Kohli eventually fell short for only the fifth time in 29 hundreds in ODI chases.

There were three phases in Kohli’s innings. The first, following a pattern established over recent months, was frenetic, displaying an eagerness to charge fast bowlers and hit them in the air if required, and bringing four fours and a six in his first 24 balls. Then, with wickets tumbling at the other end, a period of nearly dot-free rebuilding, with just the one boundary in 52 balls, scoring 47 runs regardless.

And then, when Reddy and Ravindra Jadeja fell in the space of 28 balls, came the explosion. It was necessary, with India now needing 160 at nearly nine an over, and it came from both ends. Kohli punched, whipped and lofted his way from 74 off 76 balls to a century in 91, while Rana showed both muscle and finesse in rushing to his half-century in just 41 balls.

But Rana’s dismissal, which left India needing 61 off 38 balls, left the chase entirely in Kohli’s hands, and it was all over when he was ninth out after bringing the equation down to 46 from 27.

Different bowlers delivered for New Zealand at different times. Kyle Jamieson seamed the newish ball both ways to peg India back after a quick start, most crucially taking out a rampant Shubman Gill with an in-ducker. Jayden Lennox, playing just his second ODI, looked entirely at ease at a venue unforgiving to spinners, with a notoriously small outfield, bowling with pinpoint accuracy while constantly varying his pace and taking 2 for 42 in his ten overs. Zak Foulkes and Kristian Clarke,  though expensive, picked up three wickets each. And Phillips, bowling eight overs with New Zealand captain and primary offspinner Michael Bracewell off the field, went for under seven an over.

Together, Lennox and Phillips took 2 for 96 in 18 overs. India’s spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja, bowled just six overs each and went for a combined 89 runs. Once again, New Zealand’s spinners had outbowled India.

And this, as in Rajkot, had a lot to do with how well their batters took on Kuldeep and Jadeja. Mitchell, in a manner now familiar, set the tone, jumping out to Kuldeep’s first ball and launching him for a straight six.

There was little breathing room for the spinners thereafter, and India didn’t even bring Jadeja on until the 30th over, trusting instead in their sixth bowler, Reddy, to do a job of bowling stump-to-stump medium-pace with the keeper up. He did this well at first, conceding just 17 in his first four overs, but he began looking increasingly innocuous as India kept him on for perhaps two overs too many, conceding 36 in his last four.

As India struggled to find a wicket through the middle overs, Mitchell and Phillips switched gears effortlessly. The first 70 runs of their partnership came in 89 balls; thereafter they plundered 149 in 99. Mitchell timed the ball ominously from the start, the clearest sign of his form the way he punched through the infield with a straight bat on both sides of the wicket, and attacked the spinners from all points: from yards down the pitch to right back by his stumps. Phillips, cutting with fast hands, and clearing the small boundaries with ease when he chose to, rushed from 21 off 36 to bring up his second ODI century off just 83 balls.

New Zealand looked set for at least 350 at one stage, but lost wickets in clumps through the death overs, with Mohammed Siraj bowling magnificently – getting his wobble-seam ball to grip, bowling relentless good lengths when that was required, and pinpoint yorkers and bouncers when that was the need of the hour – to finish with figures of 0 for 43 in ten overs and Arshdeep Singh and Rana more expensive but taking three wickets apiece.

Given Indore’s history of steep scoring – only Trent Bridge and the Wankhede have produced more than 380 plus ODI totals than Holkar Stadium – 337 looked like anyone’s game at the halfway point. Eventually it was more than enough, despite the evergreen Kohli’s best efforts.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 337 for 8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 137, Glenn Phillips 106;  Arshdeep Singh 3-63, Harshit Rana 3-84) beat India 296 in 46 overs (Virat Kohli 124, Nitish Kumar Reddy 53, Harshit Rana 52;  Kristian Clarke 3-54, Zak Foulkes 3-77, Jayden Lennox 2-42) by 41 runs

[Cricinfo]

The BCB and the ICC have not yet reached a resolution over Bangladesh’s refusal to play their 2026 T20 World Cup matches in India due to security concerns, despite the tournament starting in three weeks time.

The two parties had a meeting on Saturday after which the BCB issued a statement saying they will “continue engaging in constructive dialogue on this matter”. The 2026 T20 World Cup, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka, is scheduled to begin on February 7.

“During the discussions, the BCB reiterated its formal request to the ICC to relocate Bangladesh’s matches to Sri Lanka,” the board said in a statement. “The Board also shared the Bangladesh government’s views and concerns on safety and security of the team, Bangladeshi fans, media and other stakeholders.

“The discussions were conducted in a constructive, cordial and professional manner, with all parties engaging openly on the relevant issues. Among other points, the possibility of moving Bangladesh to a different group as a means of facilitating the matter with minimum logistical adjustments was discussed.”

Bangladesh are in Group C at the T20 World Cup along with England, Nepal, West Indies and Italy, and are currently scheduled to play their first three matches in Kolkata and their final one in Mumbai.

“The ICC delegation was represented by Gaurav Saxena, General Manager, Events and Corporate Communications, and Andrew Ephgrave, General Manager, Integrity Unit. Gaurav Saxena was unable to attend the meeting in person as his visa was received later than anticipated and therefore joined the discussions virtually. Andrew Ephgrave attended the meeting in person.”

The BCB was represented at the meeting by board president Aminul Islam, vice presidents Shakawath Hossain and Faruque Ahmed, director and chairman of the cricket operations committee Nazmul Abedeen and CEO Nizam Uddin Chowdhury.

The problem of Bangladesh playing in India arose once the BCCI instructed Ko;kata Knight Riders to remove Mustafizur from its IPL 2026 squad. No reason has been specified for that decision, though relations between the two countries have deteriorated of late.

Following Mustafizur’s removal, the Bangladesh government banned the broadcast of the IPL in the country, and the BCB sent a letter to the ICC refusing to play its T20 World Cup matches in India, a stance it has stuck to during several subsequent meetings with the ICC.

A risk assessment report for the T20 World Cup, compiled by an independent security agency, and accessed by ESPNcricinfo, says the threat to teams playing in India is in the moderate-high band, but there is “no information to indicate a direct threat against participating teams.”

[Cricinfo]

Smriti Mandhana became the ninth player to enter the 90s in the WPL.  For a large part of her knock, she looked set to end the tournament’s century drought: she needed just four and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were 12 away from their 167-run target. She missed out though, falling for 96 off 61, but RCB went onto seal their fourth successive win.

Lucy Hamilton whose cameo with the bat earlier in the evening got Delhi Capitals (DC) to a total of 166, dived to her right at backward point to deny Mandhana and extend the WPL’s wait for its first centurion.

For a third time in this season, RCB’s new-ball bowlers had a big say in the win. Thanks to Lauren Bell and Savali Satghare, they picked up four wickets in the first nine balls after opting to chase. Shafali Verma then resisted with a half-century and aided by a 19-ball 36 by debutant Hamilton at No. 9, DC managed to get to a respectable total.

But it was never going to challenge RCB, especially with Mandhana being in sublime form. Georgia Voll struck an unbeaten half-century as well and ensured RCB got home with eight wickets and ten balls to spare.

RCB ended the Navi Mumbai leg of the WPL with an unblemished record in four games while DC were dealt their third defeat in four matches.

Playing her first WPL season, Bell has been a revelation for RCB with the new ball. She began with a short ball which Lizelle Lee pulled with disdain through backward square leg. But next ball, she speared in a swinging yorker on leg stump. Lee’s weight was on the back foot expecting another short ball and was bowled behind her legs. Two balls later, Bell got through Laura Wolvaardt’s bat-pad gap to castle her for a two-ball duck. Having bowled outswingers till then, Bell got one to nip back in from a length and had Wolvaardt play down the wrong line.

From the other end Satghare, brought in for Arundhati Reddy who was unwell, produced a double-strike of her own. Her Mumbai team-mate Jemimah Rodrigues greeted her by scooping her for four through fine leg first ball. But Satghare shifted the line to outside off and got it to move in a little. Rodrigues went for the dab but chopped it onto the stumps. On the very next ball, Marizanne Kapp could do little about a length ball that held its line and hit top of off. DC were 10 for 4 in the second over.

While the damage was being done at the other end, Shafali watched helplessly, having faced just the one ball – the first of the game. When her turn to take strike came in the third over, she shimmied down the track and missed a length ball. She looked to pull another but only got an under-edge. She mistimed a double towards midwicket before punching one off the middle of the bat to end the over. That got her going.

Shafali then hit two sixes in the next over from Satghare, followed it with two more fours in the fifth over. She had scored 30 of the 41 DC had after five overs, and was well set by the time Shreyanka Patil came on to bowl. She saw Niki Prasad being dropped on Patil’s first ball, and then got an outside edge for four. When her turn to take strike came, she went dot, six, six to help take 19 from the last over of the powerplay.

DC were 60 for 4 after six overs, but Shafali faced only four balls in the next four overs. She soon got to a 27-ball half-century and fell for a 41-ball 62 when she scythed a Bell slower ball to backward point.

Kapp had dismissed Grace Harris five times in 24 innings before Saturday, and that seemed to play on Harris’ mind. She looked tentative against the new ball, a single coming via an inside edge off Kapp. The DC allrounder got the better of Harris when she toe-ended a loft to wide mid-off. That brought Voll, who came in the XI for D Hemalatha, in at No. 3. While she took her time, Mandhana was at her fluent best.

She hit three fours – two pulls and one square drive – in Hamilton’s first over, then a four and a six off Kapp and Nandani Sharma respectively. Despite that RCB could manage only 37 for 1 in six overs. Mandhana then toyed with spinners N Shree Charani and Sneh Rana, getting back-to-back fours against each of them and got to fifty off 31 balls. She relied more on placement than power. Once Mandhana fell, Voll got to her half-century off 41 balls and sealed the win.

Mandhana and Voll added 142 for the second wicket, the third highest partnership for any wicket in the WPL, setting the tone for the Vadodara leg, which starts on January 19.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women 169 for 2 in 18.2 overs (Smriti Mandhana 96, Georgia Voll 54*; Matizanne Kapp 1-21, Nandani Sharma 1-34) beat Delhi Capitals Women 166 in 20 overs (Shafali Varma 62, Niki Prasad 12, Sneh Rana 22, Lucy Hamilton 36, Shree Charani 11*; Lauren Bell 3-26, Sayali Satghare 3-27, Nadine de Klerk 1-31, Prema Rayat 2-16) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]