After whitewashing the hosts 5-0 in the T20I series, team India kicked off the 3-match ODI series versus New Zealand today.

The visitors got a chance to bat first on a flat wicket as the new opening pair of Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal kicked off the Indian innings.

They provided a solid start to the Men in Blue as they added 50 runs for the first wicket. Skipper Virat Kohli steadied the boat with a half-century and then, the middle order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul took over the business. The Indian team’s score was 156/3 when Rahul united with Iyer in the 29^th over.

They both first launched a counter attack to take the visiting side’s score near 300. Shreyas played the aggressor’s role as he completed his maiden ODI 100.

With this he has all but cemented the number 4 position in the team. Rahul supported him to perfection as his 88* helped team India to post a mammoth total of 347 runs on the board.

Even Kedar Jadhav silenced his critics with a quickfire cameo innings in the end. Rahul was the one who stole the show by slamming 3 fours and 6 sixes in his 64-ball knock.

KL Rahul turns AB de Villiers for a moment

When it comes to playing the modern day shots like reverse sweep, super scoop or switch hit, there is no one who does it better than South Africa’s wicket-keeper batsman, AB de Villiers. It seems like Rahul has started following his footsteps as he played an incredible shot in the first ODI.

Facing a fast bowler like James Neesham, it is never easy for a batsman to hit a sweep shot forget about reverse sweep.

But the way Rahul dispatched his soon to be Kings XI Punjab teammate, everyone was left awestruck.

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