Napier ODI: Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan power India to 8-wicket win over Kiwis

India thrashed New Zealand by eight wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series at the McLean Park in Napier on Wednesday.

After Kuldeep Yadav bagged a four-wicket haul, opener Shikhar Dhawan struck a blistering unbeaten knock of 75 runs as India thrashed New Zealand by eight wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series at the McLean Park in Napier. 

Chasing a lowly revised target of 156 runs in 49 overs after sun outrage delayed the play, openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan made a positive start to India's chase as th duo shared a crucial 41-run stand for the first wicket before the former was dismissed for 24 runs. 

Dhawan then joined forces with Indian skipper Virat Kohli and the Indian opener not only struck his 26th ODI fifty off 69 balls but also shared a good 91-run partnership to bring the Men in Blue on verge of victory. 

After Kohli (45) fell just five runs short of his half-century, Dhawan and Rayudu helped India cross the mark in 34.5 overs.

Earlier, New Zealand had won the toss and opted to bat first. 

Kuldeep Yadav tore apart the hosts' batting order, finishing with brilliant figures of four for 39. Mohammed Shami also took three wickets while Yuzvendra Chahal and Kedar Jadhav chipped in with two and a wicket, respectively as India bundled out New Zealand for 157 runs.  

Shami, who was declared Man of the Match or his figures of three for 19, also reached the mark of 100th ODI wickets--which is fastest by an Indian.

India, who have now taken a 1-0 lead in the series, will now play their second ODI against New Zealand on January 26 at Bay Oval.  

Here are the highlights: 

# India beat Kiwis by 8 wickets via Duckworth-Lewis method. 

# Shikhar Dhawan (68) is standing strong at the crease while Rayudu (seven) has also begun his innings positively after Kohli's dismissal as the duo look to guide India cross the mark. The Men in Blue are just 14 runs away from the win. India 142/2 (31 overs)

# Ambati Raydu is the new batsman for India! 

# Wicket! Soon after surviving dismissal, Kohli failed to hold for long at crease and departed for 45 runs. The Indian skipper was caught behind by Latham off Ferguson's fourth delivery of the 29th over. However, India are just 20 runs away from victory. India 136/2 (29 overs)

# Kohli (37) survived a dismissal when he was given leg before wicket off Southee's delivery in the fourth ball of the 25th over. The Indian skipper went for a review as he felt he had nicked it and replays showed that it was indeed the case. India 117/1 (25 overs)

# FIFTY!! Dhawan brings up his 26th ODI half-century off 69 balls. He achieved the feat when Southee bowls a slower ball at a length outside off and Dhawan leans in and drives to sweeper's left ro score two runs. India need just 46 runs from 26 overs. India 110/1 (23 overs)

# Kane Williamson has brought back Trent Boult into the attack as New Zealand are looking for a miracle to deny India a victory in Napier. The Men in Blue added just 6 runs in the last three over and are just 59 runs away from crossing the mark. India 97/1 (20 overs)

# Kohli (26*) and Dhawan (43*) are looking strong at the crease as the duo has brought up a 50-run stand for the third wicket to reduce India's target to 65 runs. The Men in Blue have entirely snatched the game in their favour. India 91/1 (17 overs)

# India are slowly and steadily moving towards the target, with Dhawan and Kohli having added 15 run in last two overs. The Men in Blue now require 95 runs from 35 overs. India 65/1 (14 overs)

# New Zealand missed a great chance to bag another Indian wicket when Tom Latham dropped Dhawan at middle stump off Bracewell's fifth delivery in the 12th over . Kohli and Dhawan are currently batting at five and 32, respectively and looking . India 50/1 (12 overs)

# The match has been reduced to 49 overs and the new target is 156.

# Play resumes! 

# Play has been stopped due to sun outrage.

# Indian skipper Virat Kohli comes to bat at No.3 !

# Wicket! Bracewell gives the much-needed breakthrough to New Zealand by removing Rohit Sharma for 24.  The Indian opener made a loose waft at a delivery curving away, eventually handing a simple catch to Guptill at slip. Sharma and Dhawan's 41-run stand comes to an end. India 41/1 (9.2 overs)

# Play resumes! 

# Dinner!

# Dhawan and Rohit are looking strong at the crease as they are batting at their respective scores of 29 and 11. The duo look to build a good partnership to help India wrap the match as soon as possible. The Men in Blue now require just 117 runs to win the match. India 41/0 (9 overs)

# Shikhar Dhawan becomes the second fastest Indian to reach 5,000 ODI runs. The Indian opener, who was just 10 runs away from the feat heading into his 118th match, achieved the same by taking a single off Tim Southee's second delivery of the sixth over. Dhawan is now tied fourth quickest in the world to reach 5,000 ODI runs, only behind Hashim Amla  (101 matches), Viv Richards (114), Kohli  (114), Brian Lara (118).India 18/0 (6 overs)

# A tight fifth over by Trent Boult as he has conceded just a single leg bye to Dhawan. India need 146 runs from 45 overs. India 12/0 (5 overs) 

# The Men in Blue experienced a nervy moment in the last over when Boult's delivery to Dhawan hit all across the line, but umpire Shaun George dismissed the appeal for leg before wicket. The visitors have added just four runs from the last two overs. New Zealand 6/0 (3 overs)

# India began their innings cautiously, notching just two runs off the first over. While Rohit scored a single off the very first ball, Dhawan pulled the front leg back and flicked to long leg for one run. India 2/0 (1 over)

# Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have walked down the crease to begin India's chase. Trent Boult to begin the proceedings for New Zealand. 

# New Zealand all out for 157! 

# Wicket! Kuldeep Yadav completes a four-wicket haul as he caught Trent Boult for one run at slip to finish with the figures of four for 39. New Zealand 157 (38 overs) 

# Wicket! Kuldeep Yadav bowls a gorgeous delivery as Ferguson comes forward to defend, but the ball spins right past the outside edge and straight to wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India appeal for stumping from Dhoni and they win the review. The Australian batsman goes for a duck. New Zealand 149/9 (36 overs)

# Lockie Ferguson comes to bat for New Zealand! 

# Wicket! Kuldeep Yadav strikes twice to reduce New Zealand to eight wickets. He first caught Williamson (64) at long-on before dismissing  Bracewell for seven. New Zealand 146/8 (34 overs)

# Doug Bracewell is the new batsman in ! 

# Wicket!  A fantastic delivery from Shami. The Indian pacer bowls a full, and in at middle stump while Santner looks to flick but he is eventually beaten for pace and caught leg before. New Zealand 133/6 (30 overs)

# The hosts had a nervy moment when India appealed for a review against Mitchell Santner for the stumping and for catch behind. However, the DRS confirms the sound was bat hitting the pad. Meanwhile, Williamson notched up his 36th ODI fifty. New Zealand  132/5 (29 overs)

# Micthell Santner is the new batsman in !

# Wicket! Henry Nicholls smashes a slow length ball on the leg side and Kuldeep Yadav flies to his right to grab a brilliant flying catch at midwicket. The hosts have now lost their fifth wicket. New Zealand 107/5 (24 overs)

# Williamson is standing strong at the crease and slowly moving towards his ODI half-century as New Zealand crossed the 100-run mark. The Indian bowlers, on the other hand, continue to pile pressure as they look for some more wickets after reducing the hosts by four wickets. New Zealand 101/4 (23 overs)

# New Zealand have managed to add 14 runs in the last two overs, with Williamson smashing back-to-back midwicket boundaries off Chahal's delivery in the last two balls of the 21st over. New Zealand 91/4 (21 overs)

# Henry Nicholls is the new batsman in !

# Wicket!  Latham departs for 11. Chahal delivers a full ball as Latham looks to drive it to long-on, but he ends up handing a return catch to the Indian leg-spinner. The hosts look in trouble now as they are down by four wickets. New Zealand 77/4 (19 overs) 

# India missed a great chance to dismiss another New Zealander when Kedar Jadhav dropped Williamson (21*) at fine-leg in the the last ball of the 16th over. Though it was quite an easy catch, Jadhav juggled it and missed an opportunity to reduce the hosts by four wickets. New Zealand 66/3 (17 overs)

# Tom Latham is the new batsman in !

# Wicket! Chahal strikes for India. As and when the New Zealand batsmen were looking settled at the crease, Chahal bowled a beatiful delivery to Taylor-- who made a tame push down the pitch to eventually hand a low catch to the Indian bowler. New Zealand 52/3 (14.3 overs)

# After early blows, Taylor (24) and Williamson (14) are batting patiently and looking settled at the middle as they look to build partnership to bring New Zealand back on track. The two have managed to help the hosts cross 50-run mark. New Zealand  52/2 (14 overs)

# Virat Kohli has introduced spin into the attack. Yuzvendra Chahal has been called to replace Bhuvneshwar Kumar as India look to break the partnership between Taylor and Williamson, who are batting at their respective scores of 16 and 8 and are looking to bring their side back on track after losing the openers early. New Zealand 38/2 (11 overs)

# Vijay Shankar comes into the attack!

# After Bhuvneshwar conceded a single in his over, Shami subsequently bowled a little expensive one. The hosts pulled back eight runs off Shami's over, including a boundary when Taylor picked the poor length early and hammered it through midwicket .  New Zealand 28/2 (8 overs)

# India bowled very well in the last two overs. While Bhuvneshwar conceded just a single run to Williamson in the fourth over, Shami his second maiden in three overs. New Zealand 19/2  (6 overs)

# Ross Taylor is the new batsman in for New Zealand! 

# Wicket! Shami on roll. Just an over after dismissing Guptill cheaply to grab his 100th ODI wicket, the Indian bowls a fuller length, outside off delivery to draw the left-hander to drive away from his body. Munro goes for eight. New Zealand 18/2 (4 overs)

# Skipper Kane Williamson comes to bat for the hosts!

# Wicket! India get the breakthrough early. After two appeals of leg before wicket against Guptill, Mohammed Shami finally managed to dismiss the New Zealand batsman for five runs. Guptill was too slow with his forward defensive and it piggy-backs off an inside edge and smashes into the stumps. Shami has now bagged his 100th ODI wicket--which is fastest by an Indian. New Zealand 5/1 (2 overs)

# Five runs off the very first over. Guptill gets off the mark as early as in the second ball of the match as the ball goes all the way to the square leg boundary. New Zealand 5/0 (1 over)

# Martin Guptill and Colin Munro will begin Australia's innings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar to start the proceedings for India. 

# The two sides have walked down the crease for national anthem!

# Ambati Rayudu has been recalled to India Playing XI while Dinesh Karthik has surprisingly been dropped. 

# Lineups:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(capt), MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami

New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, Tom Latham (wk), Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Tim Southee, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult

# New Zealand have won the toss and elected to bat first!

# Virat Kohli and company are all set to take on New Zealand.

# Its warm and sunny morning at McLean Park!

Coming on the back of their historic ODI and Test series wins in Australia, the Indian men's cricket team will be brimming with confidence and look to continue their winning momentum when they head into the five-match ODI series, beginning Wednesday at McLean Park, Napier. 

The ODIs, which will run till February 3, will be followed by three T20Is between the two sides from February 6 to 10.  

India ended a two-month long tour Down Under on a high note by becoming the first Indian team ever to clinch bilateral Test series and ODI series win in Australia. The visitors sealed the two series by 2-1, while they settled with a 1-1 draw in the T20I series.  

Just like the Virat Kohli-led side, New Zealand are also heading into the series following a 3-0 win in the three-match ODI series and 1-0 win in the lone T20I match against Sri Lanka. 

As far as squads are concerned, the Indian selectors had decided to rest their premium fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for both the Australia and New Zealand tour.

In his absence, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will lead India’s pace attack while Mohammed Shami will serve as the as the second bowler. India, however, will decide between Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj and Vijay Shankar for the place of the third bowler.

The Black Caps, on the other hand, have recalled Mitchell Santner, Tom Latham and Colin de Grandhomme into their 14-member squad for the first three ODIs against India. 

The two sides have played a total of 101 ODIs so far, with India winning 51 of them while 44 coming out in favour of New Zealand. At McLean Park, India and New Zealand have previously played each other six times, with the last encounter between them at this venue coming in the first ODI of the five-match series in 2014 when the hosts won by 24 runs.

The opening ODI between the two sides will also see the return of international game at McLean Park after the venue missed out on the opportunity to host the same for two years due to drainage problems and subsequent delays in revamping of the outfield.

The upcoming ODI series between the two countries will also serve as a great preparation for them ahead of the 2019 World Cup, which is slated to be held from M.ay 30 to July 14.

The two squads are as follows:

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli(captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, K Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Shubman Gill.

New Zealand ODI squad (1st, 2nd & 3rd match): Kane Williamson(c), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.