India has lost to New Zealand by 7 wickets in the second ODI match. KL Rahul had played a century innings of 112 runs in this match, but Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten century was heavy on the entire Indian team. Team India had scored 284 runs while playing first, but the Indian bowlers could not defend this big target. Know here, what were the 3 biggest reasons for the defeat of the Indian team in Rajkot.

batting flop

The biggest reason for Team India’s defeat was poor batting. After scoring 70 runs without losing any wicket, the Indian team had lost 4 wickets for 118 runs. These 4 wickets falling within 48 runs gave New Zealand a chance to make a comeback in the match. Shubhman Gill once again got a good start, but could not convert it into a century. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did not play. Due to poor batting, at one time it seemed difficult for Team India to even reach 250. It must be good for KL Rahul, who played a century inning of 112 runs and took the team to the score of 284.

That wrong decision of the captain

The New Zealand team had lost only 2 wickets till the score was 46. In the 13th over, Prasidh Krishna took the wicket of Henry Nicholls, in the very next over the captain should have turned to the wicket taking option i.e. Mohammad Siraj or Harshit Rana to increase the pressure on the Kiwi team. Instead Nitish Reddy’s spell was continued. Somehow, this helped Daryl Mitchell and Will Young to gain a foothold at the crease. When a wicket has fallen in the last over, the batsman plays cautiously, but in the 14th over, Mitchell and Young openly hit the balls of Nitish Reddy.

The spinners bowled the ball.

Indian spin bowlers proved expensive in this match. Kuldeep Yadav kept getting beaten from the beginning till the end, he gave away 82 runs in 10 overs and was able to take only one wicket. At the other end, the experience of Ravindra Jadeja also did not help, who gave 44 runs in 8 overs and could not put any pressure on the New Zealand batsmen.

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Team India was a ‘super flop’ in Rajkot, did not make a run in front of Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand defeated by 7 wickets

India vs New Zealand Highlights: India has lost to New Zealand by 7 wickets in the second ODI. With this, New Zealand is tied at one point each in the 3 ODI series. The century innings of Daryl Mitchell was heavy on the entire Indian team. In this ODI match played in Rajkot, Team India batted first and scored 284 runs. In reply, the Kiwi team achieved this target in the 48th over itself.

After losing the toss in this match, the Indian team was invited to bat first. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli got the start, but could not play big innings. Whereas captain Shubman Gill played an inning of 56 runs. Shreyas Iyer also flopped in this match, but KL Rahul single-handedly helped Team India reach the score of 284 by scoring unbeaten 112 runs. This was Rahul’s 8th century in his ODI career.

Daryl Mitchell snatched victory

Even before reaching the score of 50, the New Zealand team had lost 2 wickets. At that time, the Indian team needed to take wickets by continuously putting pressure on the Kiwi team, but in the heavy pressure situation, Daryl Mitchell and Will Young made a partnership of 162 runs. This partnership made a huge difference in the match. Will Young was out after scoring 87 runs, but Daryl Mitchell held the other end. He scored 131 runs in 117 balls, in this innings he hit 11 fours and 2 sixes.

Kuldeep Yadav in particular proved to be very expensive for India. He did take one wicket, but gave away 82 runs in 10 overs. Apart from him, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana were able to take one wicket each. Both the teams are now tied each in the ODI series and the series winner will be decided on January 18 in Indore.

India has defeated New Zealand by 4 wickets in the first ODI match. In this match played in Vadodara, the New Zealand team had scored 300 runs while playing first. In reply, the Indian team faltered and won in 49 overs with 4 wickets remaining. Virat Kohli played an inning of 93 runs for India, while Shubman Gill also played a half-century. This is India’s first victory in the year 2026.

Team India, which came to chase the target of 301 runs, did not have a very good start. When Team India’s score was 39 runs, Rohit Sharma was out after scoring 26 runs. Shubman Gill scored a half-century in a steady and slow manner and contributed 56 runs.

New Zealand tried hard

At one time the Indian team had scored 234 runs at the loss of 2 wickets. At this time the Indian team had to score 67 runs in 66 balls and with Virat Kohli in charge, Team India’s victory seemed easy. Team India had scored 234 runs, then Virat Kohli was out after scoring 93 runs. KL Rahul was not able to connect the ball in the beginning, due to which the required run rate was increasing, on the other hand wickets were also continuously falling.

Harshit Rana played an innings of 29 runs in 23 balls, not only removed the pressure from Rahul but also kept the Indian team in the race to register victory. But in the end, KL Rahul ensured the victory of the Indian team by hitting 2 fours and a six.

Rohit did not work, Captain Gill’s half century

Rohit Sharma is also in good form, but the beginning of the year 2026 was not memorable for him. He was out against New Zealand after scoring 26 runs in 29 balls. But captain Shubman Gill, who was returning after missing the ODI series against South Africa, definitely scored a half-century. Gill played a steady inning of 56 runs in 71 balls. In this innings he hit 3 fours and 2 sixes.

Virat missed a century, but created history

Maintaining his amazing form, Virat Kohli has played an inning of 93 runs. He scored 93 runs in 91 balls, in which he hit 8 fours and one six. This was the 77th half-century inning of his ODI career. Virat has scored a total of 469 runs in his last 5 ODI innings, in which he has scored 2 centuries and 3 half-centuries.

Kohli made many records in his name by playing an inning of 93 runs in the match. He has become the fastest batsman to complete 28,000 runs in international cricket. He achieved this feat in his 624th innings, before him Sachin Tendulkar had completed 28 thousand runs in 644 innings. Apart from this, he has left Kumar Sangakkara at second place in terms of scoring most runs in international cricket.