India draw first blood in rain-affected ODI series opener in New Zealand

India draw first blood in rain-affected ODI series opener in New Zealand

Arshdeep Singh took four wickets before Virat Kohli hit 74 as India beat New Zealand by five wickets in a rain-affected first of five ODIs that was played in Auckland on Wednesday.

After the visitors had opted to bowl at the toss, left-arm seamer Arshdeep ran through the home team's batting order to record figures of 4-70 as the Black Caps were bowled out for just 185.

It was a sorry tail of woe for the New Zealand's batting unit as opener Tim Seifert top-scored with 38, while it took a late cameo of 34 from number 11 Blair Tickner to lift them past the 180-run mark.

Besides Arshdeep, fellow seamers Gurnoor Brar and Anshul Kamboj also impressed with the ball, taking three and two wickets respectively, as the hosts faced 40.2 overs.

The tourists lost vetaran opener Rohit Sharma for a duck early in the run-chase, before a rain delay meant they had to chase a revised target of 143 in 32 overs.

Kohli put all fuss of the reaching the target to bed with a crisp half-century, and was well-supported by his skipper Shubman Gill (37) before both lost their wickets near the end.

The second ODI of the five-match series will take place in Wellington on Saturday.

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