Gurnoor Brar took 4 for 30 in Wellington, and India were four runs ahead of par when the rain came
New Zealand were bowled out for 134 in a rain-shortened second ODI, and India’s chase was stopped at 113 for 7 with the series now 2-0.
Nov 7, 2026
Gurnoor Brar took three wickets in the rain at Eden Park on Wednesday. In Wellington on Saturday he went one better with 4 for 30 from his ten overs, New Zealand were bowled out for 134, and the weather did the rest. India were 113 for 7 after 26 overs when rain stopped play for the last time, four runs ahead of the DLS par score of 109. The match was called off and India won by four runs to go 2-0 up in the five-match series.
Brar finds the bounce
Rain held up the toss at Hnry Stadium, the Wellington Regional Stadium under its new name, and the game was cut to 47 overs a side. Shubman Gill chose to bowl, and Auqib Nabi gave him the start he wanted, taking his first two international wickets in removing both openers, Tim Seifert for a duck and Will Young for 6.
Brar did the real damage. He had Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in the 20th over, Phillips for a duck, and New Zealand were 53 for 5. Daryl Mitchell made 55 off 104 balls and Mitchell Santner 31 off 38, but no one else got past 11 on a pitch where the bounce kept changing. Brar came back to get rid of Santner, Axar Patel removed Mitchell and Kyle Jamieson, and the innings was done inside 41 overs. Arshdeep Singh went wicketless, though his first four overs cost only four runs.
Brar was named player of the match. “Obviously, in India the pitches are quite flat, so we have to bowl that hard length,” he said. “But here, there’s that extra bounce. So I was just bowling to my strengths, and it worked.” All four of his wickets came from back-of-a-length balls or bouncers.
India’s top order wobbles
A target of 135 should have been a stroll. It wasn’t. Jacob Duffy had Gill caught at second slip first ball and then Kohli for 7, and India were 17 for 2 in the fourth over. Rohit Sharma made 23 and Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 30 before Jamieson had him caught behind, which left India 86 for 5 after 20 overs. Duffy and Jamieson finished with 3 for 35 each.
KL Rahul held the other end. He was 26 not out, with Nabi on 1, when the rain came back after 26 overs, and it never stopped long enough for a restart. India were just on the right side of par.
Gill knew how close it had been. “If we had lost this match by DLS, four or five runs, it would have definitely been a stinker for us,” he said.
Hamilton next
India can take the series in the third ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Tuesday, 10 November, at 7:30am IST. That is Gill’s last ODI of the series before he leaves to prepare for the Tests, and Iyer captains the side for the last two games at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. The first Test is back in Wellington, at the Basin Reserve, from 19 November.