Kohli spearheaded India's successful chase with a blistering 74 off 51 balls.
Virat Kohli spearheaded India's successful chase with a blistering 74 off 51 balls, guiding the team to a commanding five-wicket victory over New Zealand in the first ODI at Eden Park, Auckland on Wednesday (November 4).
Walking out in the very first over after Rohit Sharma fell for a duck, Kohli struck an aggressive counter-attacking innings laced with 13 fours and a six. On the eve of his 38th birthday, he brought up his 80th ODI half-century off just 35 balls.
Kohli combined with captain Shubman Gill (37 off 56 balls) for a crucial 113-run second-wicket partnership that broken the back of the chase.
Multiple rain delays disrupted the game, reducing India's target to 143 runs in 32 overs under the DLS method. The visitors comfortably reached 143/5 in 22.4 overs.
Speaking during the post-match press conference, New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy described Kohli's batting as having "no hole" in the game.
Duffy noted Kohli's ability to handle bounce and hit effectively, recalling similar experiences from their time at Royal Challengers Bengaluru nets.
"Yeah, it was a bit annoying, wasn't it?" Duffy told reporters. "Yeah, small targets like that, if you get a guy to come out with that kind of intent to knock it off, it can break the chase pretty easily. And he's a pretty good guy to do it, quite impressive, wasn't he?
"He didn't struggle with the bounce. He got inside those hook shots, pull shots, and then he could whack you down the ground. No surprise, he's a good player. He's done it for a lot of years, and he did that to me in the nets a lot in Bangalore."
Duffy, however, wondered if the Indian stalwart would adopt the same approach if the tourists were to set a target instead of chasing.
"If they're batting first or there's a bigger score on the board, it would be interesting to see if he plays like that. I'm not sure, I don't know if he will.
"I won't give away all their scouting tips. I did get some intel at the nets in Bangalore, but there's not many holes in his game, to be fair.
"Small grounds like that, he uses the pace really well, and then he can hit you over your head as well. So, there's not many holes in that man's game," he added.
Earlier in the day, India's pace unit bundled New Zealand out for a paltry 185 in 40.2 overs. Left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh led the charge with 4/70, backed by Gurnoor Brar (3/44) and a highly economical spell from Anshul Kamboj (2/22).
Duffy was effusive in praise of the visiting bowlers. “Yeah, probably 180 at Eden Park is never going to be enough, Obviously, I think they bowled really well. They've got some big boys in that bowling team and they use the bounce of the surface really well,” he said.
"So, yeah, they did that well and we probably just wanted our best with the bat to start with. Pretty tough to defend 180 and then they can just come hard like that and just knock a few off pretty quick."
India ‘s chase slumped to 136/5 in the 22nd over, but Duffy conceded that it was too little and too late by then.
"To be honest, probably a little bit too little, too late. But, there's still things to gain out there. We showed our intent for the series, we're not going to back down, we're going to come hard to these guys and show what we've got.
"In this situation, the short ball seemed to work a little bit, so sort of that was the option, to put our stamp on the series, I guess."
Asked if the Black Caps are struggling in defending targets given the conditions, Duffy replied, "It's a tough one. Yeah, it definitely plays a part. I think we're lying if we say it's not. Everyone wants to toss some balls for us for a reason. I'm not saying it's not impossible, don't get me wrong. It's not like it's huge, it's not like we're giving up as soon as we've lost a toss.
"But as soon as you get a little bit of moisture in the wicket, I thought tonight there's a bit of wind around and we actually might not, but I guess the rain sort of adds that moisture that the dew would have otherwise.
"So when it skid on like that, it sort of takes away the tackiness and that sort of tennis ball bounce we saw in their innings, which that's what I thought made the ball. Yeah, they're batting hard."
While acknowledging the challenge, Jacob Duffy expressed confidence that New Zealand remains a strong batting unit and will adjust moving forward.
"Yeah, it's a tricky one. Like I said, credit to them, they bowled very well. They extracted the bounce very well, and very tall bowlers at the seam and extracted that bounce. I think you saw when the guys did try to sort of lift the ante or play some shots, then quite a few went straight up.
"I think we will adapt and adjust, and I think we're a good batting team. It's not going to happen again like that, I can't imagine. So, they'll adapt and go again," he said.