Seamers, Kohli orchestrate convincing India win

Clearly, the scars of the Test series defeat run deep. This was supposed to be the start of a different ball game but New Zealand's top-order, with the exception of an unfussy half-century from Tom Latham, came a cropper once again as India's seamers, led by an inspiring performance on debut by Hardik Pandya (3 for 31), bowled the the visitors out for 190 on what was a sprightly at times, two-paced otherwise, wicket at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Stadium in Dharamsala. Virat Kohli then stroked his way to an unbeaten 85 to help the hosts chase the total down in a canter, with over 16 overs and six wickets to spare, thus giving India an early 1-0 lead in the five-match One-Day International series.

Once India had reduced New Zealand to a sub-200 total, chasing was never going to be too much of an issue, what with the dew settling in the evening. But Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma made quick ground in the early overs, ensuring that they were never behind the eight-ball even in a low-scoring chase. Rahane, after an initial bat mishap, countered the short-ball strategy with a succession of pull shots as any hopes of a New Zealand fight withered away. Twenty four of his first 26 runs came in boundaries and India had raced away to 37 after six overs.

Rohit went into a shell after some initial bravado of his own and that proved to be his undoing. Doug Bracewell trapped him in front of the stumps following a missed heave. When Rahane departed a couple of overs later, India were not clear of the woods. But the nature of scoring had given the middle-order a wide margin for error. Not that they needed any, with Kohli around. There are very few botched chases in his limited-overs CV.

Fresh off a Test match double hundred, Kohli hardly put a foot wrong as he set about orchestrating the chase. A single here, a double there and the required target was reduced to double figures. Pandey fell after a 40-run stand, flick-pulling an innocuous delivery from Ish Sodhi straight to short mid-wicket. All along, at the other end, the ball continued to display suspicious levels of obsession with the middle of Kohli's bat. Cover drives oozed off his bat and large chunks of the target kept getting removed.

The only aberration in an otherwise perfect innings was when Kohli and MS Dhoni were involved in an awful mix-up that resulted in the dismissal of the latter. But with only 29 runs left to get, India eased to the target without breaking another sweat with Kohli himself finishing things off with a six.

Earlier, Latham became only the 10th batsman in ODI history to carry his bat as his unbeaten 79 and a charming 45-ball 55 from Tim Southee helped New Zealand reach a total of some respectability after another top-order capitulation, in what is turning out to be a wretched tour so far for the visiting batsmen.

The build up to the clash in the picturesque stadium was characterised by the un-Indianness of the Dharamsala playing conditions. Cooler temperatures, little or no spin and gratuity for seamers were all factors said to play it into the visitors' hands. Yet, it was the Indian seamers who landed blow after blow after New Zealand lost their fourth consecutive toss of the series and had to take first strike.

It was the seamers' bowling discipline that had shackled the New Zealand innings on a surface that offered significant pace and carry. Both Pandya and Umesh prospered by bowling the teasing off-stump channel. The 23-year-old Pandya got the early breakthrough before even half the fans had found their seats in the stadium. After an engrossing battle with Martin Guptill, which included two streaky boundaries and an authoritative cut through point, the debutant's persistent line sucked the belligerent opener into nicking a ball to second slip.

Two more senior batsmen in the form of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor followed Guptill back to the pavillion as Umesh breathed fire from the other end. Clocking consistently over 140 clicks, the Vidarbha pacer had the New Zealand skipper caught at third man off a cut before condemning Taylor to only his second golden duck in the format with a sharp outswinger.

New Zealand didn't help their case as loose shots arrived in generous amounts to leave them tottering at 65 for 7. First, Pandya, aided by a clever change of bowling ends, had Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi caught off uppish drives. It was an opportune moment for Dhoni to spring another bowling surprise.

Kedar Jadhav was brought in to bowl his part-time off-spinners ahead of both Amit Mishra and Axar Patel. He had a huge LBW should off James Neesham turned down in his first over but had his man in the next with a simple caught and bowled. Mitchell Santner was another first-baller and suddenly Dhoni's punt was on a hat-trick. Doug Bracewell played the hat-trick ball out and then proceeded to bring much-needed calm to the innings, which appeared to be playing on fast-forward mode.

Bracewell added 41 for the eighth wicket with Latham, who had remained untroubled all along the procession. The left-hander had no difficulties negotiating either Patel or Mishra as the scoreboard eventually began to tick along. The trickle turned into a vigorous stream upon Southee's arrival. The returning seamer, handed a reprieve in his 100th ODI by an Umesh Yadav dropped catch, proceeded to take the attack to the Indian attack.

The crowd, eager for a contest, cheered on vociferously for the first time post the second drinks interval as Southee clubbed successive boundaries off the unfortunate Jaspirt Bumrah. He continued to make merry by stepping out to both the frontline spinners and hitting them over their heads for sixes. Umesh came back for another spell but was handed a similar treatment. Southee had raced to a 40-ball half-century and along with a steady Latham for company, pushed New Zealand's total past 170. Greed ended the 71-run association as in an attempt to launch another Mishra delivery, Southee miscued his shot and was caught at cover.

Mishra finished off with three wickets of his own with the dismissal of No. 11 Ish Sodhi with Latham left stranded after a stunning show of restraint and discipline.

190 on this track was never going to be enough. It wasn't. Brief Scores: New Zealand 190 in 43.5 overs (Tom Latham 79*, Tim Southee 55; Hardik Pandya 3-31, Amit Mishra 3-49) lost to India 194/4 in 33.1 overs (Virat Kohli 85*, Ajinjya Rahane 33; Doug Bracewell 1-44) by six wickets