India secured a five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the rain-curtailed first ODI of the five-match series at Eden Park on Wednesday.
New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner acknowledged that his team did not adapt swiftly enough to the pitch conditions, which offered more bounce and pace than anticipated.
“Yeah, I think the pitch probably bounced, and it was probably a little bit faster than we kind of expected at Eden Park. I think we just probably didn’t adapt as quickly as we could. And with some good bowling from India as well,” Santner said during the post-match press conference.
The New Zealand skipper explained the difficulty of dealing with the bounce at the venue and praised India’s batters and bowlers for better adapting, particularly in handling short deliveries. “I think when you try to fight the bounce at Eden Park, it can be quite hard. I think the way they kind of used it a little bit more, and Shreyas was trying to go more fine with the shorter balls. And yeah, obviously bounced a lot, and after the rain it kind of skidded on nicely. So yeah, a few short balls out there,” he added.
Despite New Zealand’s batting struggles, Santner expressed satisfaction with his bowling unit’s resilience after India’s strong start. “Yeah, very happy. It was easy for us to kind of roll over there after the start they got. So credit to the fast bowlers to keep backing it up. I think we found some good stuff at the end of the game there and we can kind of go on to Wellington,” he commented.
New Zealand were bowled out for 185 after India won the toss and chose to field. Arshdeep Singh led the Indian bowling attack with four wickets, supported by Gurnoor Brar with three and Anshul Kamboj with two.
Tim Seifert top-scored for New Zealand with 38 runs from 43 balls, while Glenn Phillips contributed 30 off 51 deliveries. Blair Tickner provided a late boost with a counterattacking 34 off 23 balls, including four sixes, helping the hosts recover from a collapse to reach 185.
India’s chase was interrupted by rain, leading to a revised target of 143 runs in 32 overs. Virat Kohli anchored the pursuit with 74 runs from 51 balls, hitting 13 fours and one six, while Shubman Gill supported with 56 off 37 deliveries.
Kohli and Gill established control for India before Jacob Duffy took two wickets in the same over dismissing Kohli and Axar Patel. However, KL Rahul and Naman Dhir remained unbeaten to secure the victory with five wickets in hand.