India beats New Zealand by 4 wickets ( New Zealand) 

Vadodara: The Indian cricket team has started its campaign in the new year, 2026, with a victory. Team India defeated New Zealand     ( New Zealand)      by 4 wickets in the first ODI match played at the BCA in Vadodara. With this win, the Indian team has taken a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series. Star Indian batsman Virat Kohli was the hero of this victory, playing a brilliant innings of 93 runs. He faced 91 balls and hit 8 fours and 1 six. Apart from Virat Kohli, captain Shubman Gill scored a brilliant half-century, while Shreyas Iyer narrowly missed a half-century, scoring 49 runs.

Team India given a target of 301 runs
After losing the toss and batting first, the New Zealand team got a good start from openers Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls. Both scored brilliant half-centuries. A fantastic century partnership was forged between this opening pair. Together, they added 117 runs for the first wicket. Conway scored 56 and Henry scored 62 runs. After that, Daryl Mitchell played an innings of 84 runs. Thus, the New Zealand team managed to score 300 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs. For the Indian team, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, and Prasidh Krishna took 2 wickets each, while spinner Kuldeep Yadav got one wicket.

Harshit Rana plays a crucial innings
This match between India and New Zealand went down to the 49th over. At one point, Team India’s victory seemed easy, and it looked like Kohli would score a century and lead the team to victory, but then Kyle Jamieson dealt a big blow to India by dismissing Kohli on the first ball of the 40th over. On the last ball of the same over, Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed cheaply and returned to the pavilion. Following this, Shreyas Iyer was also dismissed in the 42nd over, putting Team India in a difficult situation. After Iyer’s departure, fast bowler Harshit Rana came to the crease. Rana played a short but crucial innings of 29 runs. Then, KL Rahul, along with Washington Sundar, hit a six off the last ball of the 49th over to secure a four-wicket victory for Team India. KL Rahul remained unbeaten on 29 runs.