Sawt Falasteen - Kohli hits 93 as India edge New Zealand in ODI opener

The in-form Kohli struck his 77th ODI half-century but missed out on a ton as India slipped from 234-2 to 242-5 before they reached their target with six balls to spare in Vadodara.

Skipper Shubman Gill made 56 in a 118-run second wicket stand with Kohli, who shared another strong partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who made 49.

Late cameos by Harshit Rana (29) and wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul, who made an unbeaten 29 including the winning six, secured an Indian lead in the three-match series 1-0.

New Zealand pace spearhead Kyle Jamieson stood out with figures of 4-41.

Kohli led the chase as he went past Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara (28,016 runs) to become the second leading run-scorer in international cricket, behind fellow Indian Sachin Tendulkar (34,357).

The 37-year-old Kohli only plays the ODI format after he and fellow stalwart Rohit Sharma, 38, retired from T20 and Test cricket.

Rohit started strongly in his brisk 26 before he fell to New Zealand Jamieson.

The packed crowd welcomed Kohli with a huge roar as the star batter joined Gill at the crease to take the attack to the opposition.

He was ably supported by Gill, who has returned from an injury and a snub by the selectors from the T20 World Cup squad.

Gill started slowly before he gained pace to raise his 16th ODI fifty but soon fell to rookie leg-spinner Adithya Ashok.

Kohli was denied a ton by Jamieson, who got the batter caught out at extra cover. The former captain walked back to a standing ovation.

Jamieson dismissed Ravindra Jadeja, for four, in the same over and in the next bowled Iyer to raise New Zealand's hopes of a turnaround.

India's troubles increased with injury to Washington Sundar, who suffered a reported side strain while bowling his off-spin and came out to bat at number eight.

Earlier, New Zealand posted 300-8 after Daryl Mitchell hit 84 to defy the Indian bowlers after the hosts elected to field first.

Openers Devon Conway, who made 56, and Henry Nicholls (62) put on 117 but New Zealand suffered from a lack of major partnerships after their big opening stand.

Pace bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Rana and Praisdh Krishna took two wickets each.

The second match is on Wednesday in Rajkot.

The series will be followed by five T20s ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka between February 7 and March 8.

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST