Daryl Mitchell hit an unbeaten 131 off 117 balls to lead New Zealand to a seven-wicket win over India on Wednesday in the second one-day international and level the three-match series at 1-1.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat in Rajkot, restricting hosts India to 284/7. The visitors overhauled that target with 15 deliveries to spare to set up a series decider.
Mitchell, in good form in ODIs having scored 761 runs last year at an average of 54.35, walked out with New Zealand struggling on 46-2.
The 34-year-old swiftly clicked with Will Young and the duo added 162 runs, though Mitchell was spilled on 80 by Prasidh Krishna only to go onto register his eighth ODI ton.
Young (87) fell agonisingly short of the three figure mark when he top-edged a Kuldeep Yadav delivery, looping an early-take c&b chance to Nitish Kumar Reddy which brought about the end of his partnership.
But it was a case of too little too late for India as Mitchell and Glenn Phillips (32) carried New Zealand past the finish line to achieve their highest ODI run chase in India.
“For a couple of years now, we haven’t won here. Nice to get a win. I’m just having fun doing it for the country,” Mitchell said.
Young is a class player, I enjoy batting with him, we have had some good fun batting together. He was a good player of spin and he would use all of his options.
On Wednesday morning, Kristian Clarke claimed three crucial wickets to halt India’s charge, accounting for Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli.
KL Rahul was also key for India’s innings, scoring an unconquered 112 off 92 balls.
He shared a 73-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (27) and then another 57 with Reddy (20) as he notched up his eighth century and his highest in one-dayers.
“We did get a good start with the ball but they batted well in the middle overs,” Shubman Gill, captain of India, said.
“The overs we bowled in the first 10-15, the ball was doing well. After that the wicket settled. “But we were not that bold, and took fewer risks.”
There was nothing captain Virat Kohli could do as the home skipper KL Rahul clobbered 10 fours and three sixes, tough-love birthing him a second career T20 international ton, his first in India.