RAJKOT: Daryl Mitchell scored an unbeaten 131 from 117 balls to lead New Zealand to a seven-wicket win over India in the second One-Day International on Wednesday and level the three-match series at 1-1.
New Zealand won the toss and sent India into bat, restricting the hosts to 284/7 in Rajkot. The visitors chased that aim with 15 deliveries remaining to set up a series-deciding decision.
Mitchell, who has been in fine form in ODI cricket and scored 761 runs in 2025 at an average of 54.35, arrived with New Zealand in a difficult position at 46-2.
The 34-year-old quickly built a strong partnership with Will Young as the duo combined for 162 runs, with Mitchell being dropped on 80 by Prasidh Krishna before notching his eighth ODI century.
“We haven’t won here in a few years. It’s good to have won. I just like doing the job for the country,” Mitchell said. “Young is a class player, I love batting with him, we also have fun batting together. He loved playing spinners and using all his options.”
The Indian bowlers enjoyed early success when Harshit Rana bowled to Devon Conway, who made 16, and fellow quick Krishna had Henry Nicholls bowl a delivery to his stumps for 10.
After that, Young was joined at the crease by the experienced Mitchell and the duo stabilized the innings for the Black Caps.
Young (87) came close to scoring a century before he edged past a Kuldeep Yadav delivery and sent the ball looping into the hands of Nitish Kumar Reddy, ending the partnership.
However, it was too little, too late for India as Mitchell and Glenn Phillips (32) took New Zealand to the finishing line and helped them achieve their highest ever ODI run chase in India.
“It’s a complete performance from us and we’re proud of the team. We were very happy halfway through. We played really well. We were really ready to go all out,” New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Kristian Clarke claimed three decisive wickets to lock down India’s top spot, sending Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli to the dressing room.
KL Rahul was the cornerstone of India’s innings as he hit an unbeaten 112 off 92 balls.
He put together a 73-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja (27) and added 57 more with Reddy (20) as he scored his eighth century and also registered his highest score in the 50 over format.
“We had a good start with the ball, but they batted very well in the middle,” said Indian captain Shubman Gill.
“In the first 10-15 overs that we played, the ball was doing well. After that, the wicket settled down. But we could have been braver and taken more risks.”
The decisive third match of the series will be played in Indore, before the teams complete their preparations for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup with a five-match T20I series.
Dashboard
INDIA: R. Sharma v Young b Clarke 24 S. Gill v Mitchell b Jamieson 56 V. Kohli b Clarke 23 S. Iyer v Bracewell b Clarke 8 KL Rahul not absent 112 R. Jadeja c&b Bracewell 27 NK Reddy v Phillips b Foulkes 20 H. Rana v Bracewell b Lennox 2 M. Siraj not absent 2 EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1, W-7) 10 TOTAL (for 7 wickets, 50 overs) 284 FALL OF Wickets: 1-70 (Sharma), 2-99 (Gill), 3-115 (Iyer), 4-118 (Kohli), 5-191 (Jadeja), 6-248 (Reddy), 7-256 (Rana) DID NOT BEAT: K. Yadav, P. Krishna BOWLING: Jamieson 10-2-70-1 (1w), Foulkes 9-0-67-1 (2w), Clarke 8-0-56-3 (2w, 1nb), Lennox 10-0-42-1 (2w), Bracewell 10-1-34-1, Phillips 3-0-13-0 NEW ZEALAND: D. Conway b Rana 4 p.m. Nicholls b Krishna 10 W. Young c Reddy b Yadav 87 D. Mitchell not out 131 G. Phillips not out 32 EXTRAS (LB-5, W-5) 10 TOTAL (for 3 wickets, 47.3 overs) 286 FALL OF WICKETS: 1-22 (Conway), 2-46 (Nicholls), 3-208 (Young) DID NOT DEFEATED: M. Hay, M. Bracewell, Z. Foulkes, K. Clarke, K. Jamieson, J. Lennox BOWLING: Siraj 9-0-41-0 (2w), Rana 9.3-1-52-1 (1w), Krishna 9-0-49-1, Reddy 2-0-13-0, Jadeja 8-0-44-0 (1w), Yadav 10-0-82-1 RESULT: New Zealand won by seven wickets. PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Daryl Mitchell
Published in Dawn, January 15, 2026
