MOHALI, India: Virat Kohli scored his 26th ODI hundred and went on to an undefeated 154 as India scored 289-3 in 48.2 overs to beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the third one-day international today.
Kohli hit 16 fours and one six in his 134-ball knock as India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Earlier, New Zealand scored 285 in 49.4 overs after James Neesham scored his maiden one-day half-century.
India got off to a bad start. Ajinkya Rahane (5) was caught at cover off Matt Henry (2-56) and then Rohit Sharma (13) was trapped lbw by Tim Southee (1-55).
Inbetween, Ross Taylor dropped Kohli — when he was on only six — off Henry in the 5th over and it proved to be a vital moment in the match.
Skipper MS Dhoni promoted himself to No. 4 and put on 151 runs for the third wicket with Kohli. It was the second-highest third-wicket partnership in ODIs for India against New Zealand, after 158 by Navjot Sidhu and Mohinder Amarnath in Sharjah in 1988.
Dhoni scored his 61st ODI half-century off 59 balls and in doing so crossed 9,000 runs in ODI cricket. He became the fifth Indian batsman and third keeper-batsman across the world to achieve that feat.
Dhoni was out in the 36th over for 80, Taylor holding the catch this time at cover off Henry.
Kohli then took over and reached his hundred off 104 balls. He eventually crossed 150 off 133 balls, the highest individual ODI score at this ground, improving on Dhoni's 139 against Australia in 2013.
Manish Pandey (28 not out) added 97 runs with Kohli for the unbroken fourth wicket as India won with 10 balls to spare.
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