Kohli Century Sets Up Indian Victory

Kohli Century Sets Up Indian Victory

Virat Kohli (right) hits out on the way to his century in Guwahati

©REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA - Tags: SPORT CRICKET) Picture Supplied by Action Images

India 276 (Kohli 105, McKay 4-62) beat
New Zealand 236 (Taylor 66) by 40 runs
First One-Day International, Guwahati
Scorecard

Virat Kohli scored a fine century - his second in as many matches - as India beat New Zealand by 40 runs in the opening One-Day International in Guwahati.

Kohli's 105 in 104 balls helped India reach 276 before they were bowled out and in reply, New Zealand were dismissed for 236.

Asked to bat first in testing conditions, India responded well with openers Murali Vijay (29) and Gautam Gambhir (38) laying the foundations for Kohli's innings.

In at number three, he hit ten fours and was ably supported by Yuvraj Singh, who made 42 and Yusuf Pathan, who struck 29 in 13 balls.

Andy McKay returned four for 62 to keep New Zealand in the match as Kyle Mills took three for 42.

However, despite a fluent 69-ball innings of 66 from Ross Taylor, New Zealand were unable to stay on terms as India bowled well.

There were three wickets apiece for Yuvraj, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Ravi Ashwin as regular wickets maintained India's control of the game.

A late flurry from Mills (32) and Nathan McCullum (35) briefly gave New Zealand an unlikely shot at victory late on but the return of Sreesanth snuffed out the danger and gave India the match as he impressed with three for 30.

Kohli was named the man of the match and the second game in the five-match series, in Jaipur, is on 1st December.

© Cricket World 2010