IND vs NZ: Virat Kohli And Shubman Gill's 'Impactful' Knocks Catapult India To Four-Wicket Win Over New Zealand

India vs New Zealand: The Indian Cricket Team earned its first win of the year on the back of 'powerful' half-centuries from Indian captain Shubman Gill and talisman Virat Kohli. Chasing a tricky 301 on a track that had some help for the pacers, Kohli and Gill stitched a partnership of 118 off 107 balls for the second wicket, which kept India ahead in the chase for the most part.

Kyle Jamieson picked up four wickets to trigger a mini-collapse; however, the pair of KL Rahul and Harshit Rana scored 29 runs each to apply the finishing touch in the chase. In the end, India achieved the target with an over to spare.

Coming up clutch! 💪

KL Rahul seals victory for #TeamIndia in some style 🙌

Updates ▶️ https://t.co/OcIPHEpvjr #INDvNZ | @IDFCFIRSTBank | @klrahul pic.twitter.com/wfo59uBEgE

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2026

Earlier, Daryl Mitchell struck a fine half-century to guide New Zealand to 300 for 8.

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Harshit (2/65), Siraj (2/40) and Prasidh Krishna (2/60) got two wickets apiece while Kuldeep Yadav got one.

Kohli’s innings also saw him surpass Kumar Sangakkara to become the all-time second-highest run-scorer in international cricket history, moving past the Sri Lankan great’s tally of 28,016 runs. Tendulkar remains at the top with 34,357 international runs.

Kohli and Gill formed a formidable 118-run partnership as the Indian team sailed to the 100-run mark with ease. The former continued his rampant form in the format and got to his fifty in 44 deliveries. Gill, who had been returning to the helm after an injury layoff and also making his return to international scenes for the first time since his T20 World Cup snub, slammed his 16th ODI fifty in 66 balls.

As the target and remaining deliveries came down at an equal rate, Rahul smashed consecutive boundaries in the 49th over, narrowing the target to one run with seven balls left. The wicketkeeper-batter smashed a six off the next delivery to finish off the chase as he made sure that India won the game with an over to spare.

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Brief Scores:

New Zealand 300/8 in 50 overs (Daryl Mitchell 84, Henry Nicholls 62; Mohammed Siraj 2-40, Harshit Rana 2-65) lost to India (Virat Kohli 93, Shubman Gill 56; Kyle Jamieson 4-41, Kristian Clarke 1-73) by four wickets.

Inputs from IANS