India beat New Zealand by four runs on DLS at Wellington on 7 November 2026 and lead the five-match series 2-0, after winning the opener by 12 runs. Gurnoor Brar, with career-best ODI figures of 4 for 30, was player of the match.
Rain shortened the game to 47 overs a side, then ended it. India were 113 for 7 after 26 overs when play stopped, four runs ahead of the DLS par score of 109. On a pitch where nobody on either side passed 55, four runs was the whole margin.
| Team | Score | Key performers |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 134 all out, 41 overs (47-over innings) | Mitchell 55 (104 balls), Santner 31 (38). India bowling: Brar 4/30, Kamboj 2/25, Nabi 2/31, Patel 2/28 |
| India | 113/7, 26 overs (target 110) | Iyer 30 (46), Rahul 26* (38), Rohit 23 (28). New Zealand bowling: Jamieson 3/35, Duffy 3/35 |
Mitchell and Santner hold a wobbling innings together
India chose to field. New Zealand were 53 for 5, with Tim Seifert and Glenn Phillips out for ducks, when Daryl Mitchell and Mitchell Santner came together. Their stand of 59 took the total to 112 for 6, and Mitchell’s 55 off 104 balls was the only fifty of the match. Santner scored 31 from 38 balls. The last four wickets then fell for 22, and the innings closed at 134 in 41 overs. “It was a tricky wicket, there was no hiding,” Santner said, and he added that “we could’ve scraped to 160-180”, as quoted in post-match reports.
Brar bowled ten overs, two of them maidens, and took Tom Latham and Phillips in that slide to 53. Auqib Nabi finished with 2 for 31 and Axar Patel with 2 for 28. Anshul Kamboj took 2 for 25 and also held three catches, and Arshdeep Singh, wicketless, conceded 16 in seven overs.
A golden duck for Gill
Jacob Duffy needed one ball to dismiss Shubman Gill. He later took Virat Kohli for 7 and Naman Dhir for 12, while Kyle Jamieson removed Rohit Sharma for 23, Shreyas Iyer for 30 and Kamboj for 1. India had been 47 for 4. Iyer’s 30 off 46 balls was the top score of their innings and KL Rahul finished unbeaten on 26 from 38. “I thought it’ll be an easy target but it wasn’t,” Gill said after the match, according to post-match reports.
Back-up pace, and a captain who picks his words
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were not in the side, and Outlook India saw the game as a look at the back-up fast bowlers before the 2027 World Cup. At the presentation Gill said of Brar: “He’s got the pace, he’s got the bounce.” He added that “it’s all about how consistent he can be”. Brar’s own comment, to ANI, was about the captain: “He backs everyone the same way. Nobody is judged here based on a single performance.”
The third ODI is at Hamilton on 10 November (02:00 GMT) and the fourth at Mount Maunganui on 13 November.
