Virat Kohli, Harshit Rana shine; Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja flop- India ratings for NZ ODIs

Virat Kohli and Harshit Rana were India's best players vs NZ ODIs [Source: BCCI/X.com]

India faced a tough 1-2 ODI series loss against New Zealand at home to kick-start the new calendar year, before the focus shifts toward the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026. What dampened the spirits for the Men in Blue was the fact that this was a second string Kiwi team, which missed a bunch of players from the first-choice XI, who will join them in the T20Is.

Amidst all the storm, the former India captain Virat Kohli was a ray of hope for the hosts for his 93 and 124 in the series to go alongside Harshit Rana's all-round brilliance. However, certain issues came at forefront, with Ravindra Jadeja making close to no substantial contributions in a series, where his experience was needed in crunch moments.

As the Indians concede their first-ever ODI series vs NZ at home, below are the player ratings for the three matches.

India player ratings for New Zealand ODIs

Top-order batters

Shubman Gill (c) - 6/10

Returning from his neck injury and after missing the South Africa ODI series, Shubman Gill looked in good touch throughout the series, with scores of 56(71), 56(53) and 23(18). However, despite getting starts in all three matches, he could not convert them into big scores — two of which came during pressure run-chases.

On the captaincy front, the rotation of bowlers during the middle overs did not seem proactive from Gill, which saw Daryl Mitchell comfortably score two match-winning centuries and New Zealand also bounced back from 5/2 and 58/3 in the series decider. He also became the first-ever Indian captain to lose an ODI series vs NZ at home.

Rohit Sharma - 4/10

Former India captain Rohit Sharma came into the ODI series in good form, having scored three fifties and a hundred in the last 6 ODIs, while also getting 155 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. 

As a batter, who was on top of his game and had worked on his fitness, he did not live up to the expectations. He batted well for his two 20s, but the overall impact was missing as he ended the series with only 61 runs in 3 innings, with 9 fours and two sixes.

Virat Kohli - 8.5/10

India's leading run-scorer of the series Virat Kohli scored an impeccable 124(108) in a desperate attempt to win India the series in Indore. Coming into the series after a great South Africa series, he carried his form and scored 93(91) in a successful run-chase in Vadodara as well, while getting chopped on in Rajkot for 23(29).

Overall, he looked to be batting in an auto-pilot zone for most part of the series and looked class apart from rest of the team.

Middle-order batters 

Shreyas Iyer (vc) - 4/10

Shreyas Iyer was returning from a spleen injury in this series, having missed the three games against South Africa. While he started the series in Vadodara well, scoring 49(47) in a successful chase of 301 runs, he did not manage to finish the match and got out to loose shots in the subsequent two matches, only adding 11 more runs to his run tally.

Overall, he looked a bit off with his shot selection and could have done much better, considering the form he has been in for over a year.

KL Rahul (wk) - 7.5/10

The wicketkeeper batter was India's second-highest run scorer in the series, courtesy of his calm and composed finish in the first ODI, where he got India over the line in a chase that got tricky with 29*(21) and backed it up by an outstanding rescue knock of 112*(92) with 11 fours and a six in Rajkot to take India from 115/3 and 118/4 to a respectable total of 284/7.

He also caught three catches behind the stumps, making a decent overall impact amidst a series loss at home. His only failure came in the series-decider when India needed a rebuild from early collapse but he could only get 1 off 6.

All rounders

Nitish Kumar Reddy - 7/10

Nitish Kumar Reddy played two matches in the series after Washington Sundar sustained an injury but ws not trusted with responsibility in the Rajkot ODI, bowling only 2 overs and batting below Jadeja, scoring 20(21). However, with a chip on his shoulder in the final ODI, he bowled 0/53 (8) and got an important 53(47) in his 88-run stand with Kohli to keep India in the match.

Overall, there is not too much to judge from the limited sample size, but he fared decently in the limited time in to make an impact.

Ravindra Jadeja - 3/10

The experienced campaigner played all three matches in the series but failed to deliver any notewoerthy performances across batting and bowling. As a frontline bowler, he was only trusted with 23 overs in 3 matches, where he picked zero wickets in the middle overs, conceding at a rate of 6.13.

With the bat in hand, he walked in to bat when the team needed someone to step-up at crucial junctures but only got 4(5), 27(44) and 12(16) in the series.

Washington Sundar - 6/10

Before his injury, which ruled him out of the series, Washington Sundar managed to bowl an economical 5-over spell, only conceding 0/27 from it in the first innings of the match. With the bat, he had to walk out to provide finishing touches to the game despite an injury and he did the job of sticking with Rahul to win India's only match in the three outings.

Harshit Rana - 8/10

The emergence of Harshit Rana despite the undue criticism was one of the biggest positives for India to start off this year. He looked effective with the bowl, finishing as the leading-wicket taker for the Men in Blue with 6 scalps, providing crucial breakthroughs across phases of play. The economy rate of 6/81 will be something that he would like to work on moving forward.

As he develops himself in the pace-bowling all-rounder's role, he was among the stand-out batters at number 8, scoring 83 runs, including a 29(23) in Vadodara under pressue and 52(43) in the final ODI with four fours and four sixes. His six-hitting prowess was on display in both innings.

Bowlers

Kuldeep Yadav - 3/10

India's frontline spinner, who is supposed to be a strike bowler in the middle overs, Kuldeep Yadav seemed ineffective across the series, where he conceded at an economy rate of 7.28 per over and got only 3 wickets in 3 games. Daryl Mitchell, who was the best opposition batter scored 88 runs off him in 64 balls without getting out, which effectively took India out of the series.

Prasidh Krishna - 6.5/10

The lanky pacer was India's joint-second highest wicket-taker of the series with 3 scalps in two matches, including 2/60 in the first ODI win in Vadodara. He broke a partnership by getting rid of Mitchell Hay with a brilliant ball that jagged back in to clean up the stumps and subsequently denied Mitchell a century in the death, dismissing him on 84(71).

In the next game, he got Henry Nicholls early in the innings to put India in front early on in the match; however, Will Young and Daryl Mitchell took the match away. He bowled at an economy of just over 6 in the series.

Mohammed Siraj - 7/10

Siraj played the three matches in different role — starting as a new ball bowler before playing as first change in the final ODI. However, the bowler looked effective for 2/40 in the first match, picking Will Young and Zak Foulkes' wickets. 

He went wicketless in the 2nd ODI, but conceded only at 4.55 and backed it up by another miserly 10-over spell of 1/43 in Indore. He picked 3 wickets in 3 matches. His economical spells give him a higher rating than Krishna.

Arshdeep Singh - 7/10

Arshdeep Singh only got to play the final ODI of the series and he was right on the money from the word go to get rid of Nicholls in the first over for a golden duck in the first spell. While Mitchell and another centurion Glenn Phillips were taking the match away from India, he came back with the old ball to dismiss Phillips and added another wicket of Zak Foulkes to his name.

While he went for 63 runs, he took wickets at crucial intervals and kept India in the match to finish the series as joint-second highest wicket taker for the team in the solitary match.