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]