IND vs NZ 2026, 2nd ODI: Mitchell's 131* trumps Rahul's 112* as Kiwis level the series in Rajkot

India and New Zealand locked horns in the second ODI of the series at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Wednesday, January 14. The visitors won the toss and elected to field first. Both the teams made one change each - India were forced to replace Washington Sundar with Nitish Kumar Reddy and New Zealand brought in debutant Jayden Lennox in place of Adithya Ashok.

Captain Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma started the innings with caution, more so because of the tight lines and lengths of the Kiwi bowlers early on. The pair could add just 10 runs in the first five overs, but the shackles were broken from here on as the next five overs yielded 47 runs. 

The 70-run partnership was eventually snapped by young Kristian Clarke as Rohit (24 off 38) was caught in the deep. Virat Kohli joined Gill as the latter continued in a similar fashion, bringing up his 17th half century in 47 balls. But the Indian captain (56 off 53) holed out to midwicket soon after.

Shreyas Iyer walked to the middle and the Kiwis found an opportunity to tighten the screws further. A couple of tight overs compelled the 31-year-old to release the pressure, but in the process Iyer (8 off 17) ended up getting caught at mid-off off Clarke. The 24-year-old Kiwi struck again in his next over, getting the big fish Kohli (23 off 29) chopping on to his stumps. India were 118/4 in the 24th over, needing a stable hand or two.

Wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja provided the same with a 73-run partnership before Jadeja (27 off 44) stroked one back to Michael Bracewell in the 39th over. Reddy (20 off 21) came out with a positive intent, but in his quest for quick runs the 22-year-old perished in the deep midwicket region. All-rounder Harshit Rana (2 off 4), whose cameo saved the day for India in the last match, failed this time around.

Meanwhile, KL Rahul was going well at the other end and had crossed his 50-run mark in 52 balls. The Karnataka batter took it upon himself to ensure India scored as many runs as possible at the death. Mohammed Siraj joined him and though the Hyderabadi did not score or face many balls he provided Rahul good company. 

Rahul (112* off 92) reached his eighth ODI ton in the 49th over with a six and helped India to 284/7 in their 50 overs. For New Zealand, Clarke and Bracewell were the standout bowlers - the former scalped wickets while the latter contained runs.

The Kiwis began the chase steadily as the left-hand pair of Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls avoided giving India any early wicket. But, the openers could not keep it that way for long as Rana went through the defences of Conway (16 off 21) in the sixth over. Right-hander Will Young joined Nicholls as the Indian bowlers were charged up. The runs dried up for a while and the duo saw off the first powerplay without further damage (34/1).

The pressure kept building and something had to give way. Nicholls, while pulling a Prasidh Krishna delivery, under-edged the ball on to his stumps as New Zealand found themselves at 46/2 in the 13th over. Out came Daryl Mitchell and the aggressive batter combined with Young to start building a partnership.

The conditions were getting unfavourable for the bowlers gradually and the batters showed patience and accumulated the runs in the middle phase. The pair were going strong with more and more time at the crease, reaching their fifties in the process.

The game was slipping away from India, but Kuldeep Yadav finally found a breakthrough. Young (87 off 98), who went past his 11th ODI fifty, was caught at midwicket. India found an opening but another danger man Glenn Phillips came to the crease now. Meanwhile, the Kiwis were in complete control and need not take any undue risks.

Mitchell completed his eighth century in the 42nd over as the Kiwis now needed 52 runs off 53 balls. The duo, with occasional attacking shots, saw their team home by seven wickets in the 48th over and levelled the series 1-1.

For India, most of the bowlers lacked the bite while Kuldeep had a really bad day conceding 82 runs from his 10 overs.