🏏New Zealand vs India : 3rd ODI: At Indore on 18/01/26 D/N🏏 - Page 23

Jadeja and Rohit hit lose shots today.

From 0-1 down, New Zealand have come back superbly to register their first-ever ODI series win in India. Plenty of hugs in the New Zealand camp. This is a historic moment. Phillips, who scored a direct-hit to wrap up the proceedings, punched the air hard in absolute ecstasy. His reactions tell you how big this victory is. Mind you, he along with Mitchell played a big role earlier in the day to set up this win. Mitchell and Phillips scored centuries and were involved in a magnificent double hundred partnership that helped New Zealand post 337 in this series-decider. Given the history and nature of this track, it seemed like a par score. But New Zealand were switched on from ball one in the second innings.

Congratulations NZ!

Another piece of cricketing history has been written by New Zealand in India. They arrived in 2024 carrying the burden of never having won a Test series in the country, and they ticked that box. The Kiwis returned to Indian shores, having never won an ODI series here on their previous 7 tours, and they have now conquered that frontier as well. What makes it even more special is that they have achieved this feat with an inexperienced group, missing several established ODI regulars, and with a number of players touring India for the first time.

First ODI bilateral series win for New Zealand in India in eight attempts since 1988.

– First loss for India at Indore after winning seven ODI matches. Batting first team won 6 out of 8 ODI matches at this venue.

– This is the first time since October 2022, after winning 13 successive games, that India lost a home ODI after winning the toss.

India’s bilateral ODI series results at home (since 2016)

vs Australia: Five series | Three wins | Two defeats

vs other teams: 14 series | 13 wins | 1 defeat vs NZ (today)

Originally posted by: Rosyme

Jadeja and Rohit hit lose shots today.

They should have played more carefully. Fielding was bad, and Nitish gifted a lot of runs. Death bowling is also questionable.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, New Zealand were reduced to 5/2, losing both openers within the first two overs, and Will Young was unable to make his start count. The recovery was led by Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips, who put together a marathon 219-run partnership. The pair were able to make up for the dots that had built up earlier, largely due to the disciplined bowling from the hosts. Both batters went on to register centuries, with Mitchell notching up his career-best ODI score of 139. Both fell within 7 balls heading into the death overs, which allowed India to claw things back. However, Michael Bracewell and contributions from the lower order helped the Kiwis reach 337

We were unable to break the partnerships and did not form one. One man army tha, while wickets kept falling on the other end except for Harshit.

Shubhman Gill | IND captain

Gill: After the first match, coming here 1-1, the way we played - disappointed. There are areas we need to look back, reflect and do better. (On the positives) The way Virat is batting is always is a plus. The way Harshit has batted in this series, batting at No. 8 is not easy. The way he stepped up and the way the fast bowlers bowled in this series was good as well. Keeping the World Cup in mind, we want to give him (Nitish Reddy) opportunities and we want to give him enough overs and see what kind of combinations work for us and what kind of deliveries work for him.

Daryl Mitchell is the player of the match and the player of the series. Well deserved!

Daryl Mitchell, POTM and POTS: It's really nice to contribute and to win over here. The way we built partnerships, with Young and GP. Always nice to get stuck into moments with your mates. I'm just trying to concentrate on being present, watch the ball and repeat, and make some good decisions. GP is a mate, awesome to see him get a 100. He's been out injured, proud of how he's come back. I love playing for my country, took a while to get here, domestic cricket taught a lot.

Yet another heartbreak etched in history

If only Harshit aj tik jata

Michael Bracewell: It's always a pleasure to come over here and play in India in front of these amazing fans and play such a great team. So to be able to come over here and win a series the first time a New Zealand team's done it was pretty special. You're always hopeful when you're going to come over here and play some good cricket. I think we really stuck to what we know works as a team and we were able to come here and play some really good cricket in these conditions.

(On New Zealand cricket) We're the sum of all the parts and we really try to work together as a group. That's part of the Kiwi way, we're just a small country from the bottom of the world and we try to work together to take on some of the bigger countries in the world. We really rally around there as a group and when things come like that, it's pretty special.

(On Mitchell) He's been amazing in the one-day format for a few years now. He's done beautifully and led the batting attack. He's a pretty humble guy, so to see him go through his thing and get the reward he deserves is pretty special. Whenever you expose young people to international cricket and get two debutants on this tour, that's very cool. Getting to experience the crowds and see the way we are here is a wonderful thing. I think particularly those two debutants have stuck out in there and done a great job for us, all three of them. So, that's been particularly pleasing on this tour. Growing the depth of cricket in New Zealand is awesome.