NEW ZEALAND beat India by 41 runs on Sunday to secure their first one-day international series win on Indian soil, despite a century by Virat Kohli.
After being invited to bat in Indore, New Zealand slipped to 5-2 and then 58-3 before Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips added 219 runs for the fourth wicket to take the visitors to 337-8.
Mitchell scored 137 and Phillips made 106 off 88 balls.
India were then bowled out for 296 in 46 overs, despite Kohli’s 124, as New Zealand won the three-match series 2-1.
New Zealand had lost all seven of their previous ODI series in India, with the run dating back to 1988.
The Black Caps had registered their first Test series win in India with a 3-0 sweep in October 2024 and followed it up with another series win despite missing several players, including Kane Williamson, Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham, Rachin Ravindra and Jacob Duffy.
"We're the sum of all the parts and we really try to work together as a group -- that's part of the Kiwi way," captain Michael Bracewell said.
"We're just a small country from the bottom of the world and we try to work together to take on some of the bigger countries in the world."
He added: "We really rally around there as a group and when things come like that, it's pretty special."
Kohli, who now plays only the 50-over format after retiring from Test and T20 international cricket, threatened to steer India to victory in a 99-run seventh-wicket partnership with Harshit Rana, who scored 52.
New Zealand left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox finished with figures of 2-42 from his 10 overs after Bracewell left the field with a calf injury and did not return.
Mitchell led the side in Bracewell’s absence, which also left New Zealand a bowler short.
Zak Foulkes and fellow seamer Kristian Clarke took three wickets each.
India fell to 71-4 before Kohli put on 88 runs with Nitish Kumar Reddy, who made 53, and later added another stand with Rana.
"The way Virat is batting, that's definitely a plus always," said India captain Shubman Gill. "The way Harshit has batted in the series, batting at number eight, it's not easy."
Kohli hit 10 fours and three sixes in his 108-ball innings before being caught off Clarke and walking back to an ovation after his 85th international century.
Earlier, Mitchell continued his form after making 131 not out in the second ODI, which had levelled the series at 1-1. Mitchell reached his ninth ODI hundred with a single off Ravindra Jadeja, before Phillips also completed his century.
Arshdeep Singh dismissed Phillips, caught behind, to end the fourth-wicket stand, and Mitchell soon followed when he was out to Mohammed Siraj.
Mitchell was named player of the match and player of the series after scoring 352 runs in three matches.
New Zealand then lost four more wickets, but Bracewell hit an unbeaten 28 off 18 balls.
The teams will next play five T20 matches as preparation for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka between February 7 and March 8.
(With inputs from agencies)
