India vs New Zealand 1st ODI Predictions - Kohli to crush the in-form Kiwis

Simon Lewis

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Last updated: 10 Jan 2026

Simon Lewis 10 Jan 2026

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Virat Kohli scored 135, 102 and 65* in the series against the Proteas.
Glenn Phillips has scored 94, 29, 24 & 90* in his last six innings.
Can India maintain their winning record over New Zealand?

Virat Kohli plays down to third against South Africa (Getty Images).

India vs New Zealand Predictions

India come into the series on the back of a 2-1 ODI series defeat to Australia followed by a 2-1 win over South Africa. New Zealand have enjoyed three comprehensive series wins in a row, but with a weakened squad they are unlikely to pose much of a threat to India.

India vs New Zealand Predictions
Head-to-Head
India Form
New Zealand Form
India & New Zealand Team News

India’s Virat Kohli has scored 135, 102, 65*, 131 & 77 in his last 5 innings.
India’s Rohit Sharma has scored 57, 75 & 155 in his last 5 innings.
New Zealand’s Glenn Phillips scored 90* off 48 balls against Central Districts.
New Zealand’s Henry Nicholls has scored 111, 109*, 226 & 22 in his last 7 innings.

Head-to-Head

India have won their last five ODIs against New Zealand.

India Form

India made it three wins from their last four ODIs when they beat the Proteas by nine wickets with over 10 overs to spare.

Virat Kohli is in exceptional form and is expected to maintain his impressive run-scoring in the series against New Zealand. He finished as India's highest ODI run-scorer in 2025 (651 runs), with three centuries and four 50s. Their top order is heavy with runs in the shape of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 116* in the deciding ODI win over South Africa, but he is likely to be on the sidelines as Shubman Gill is usually favoured over him… which is a great selection headache to have.

Kuldeep Yadav (4/41) and Prasidh Krishna (4/66) did the damage in the 3rd ODI against South Africa, while Arshdeep Singh was the most economical of their bowlers, his 8 overs going for 36 runs (econ 4.50). Harshit Rana and Mohammed Siraj have both been taking wickets in domestic cricket.

New Zealand Form

New Zealand made it three wins from their last four ODIs when they beat South Africa by nine wickets to clinch their ODI series 2-1.

Glenn Phillips and Henry Nicholls are likely to be New Zealand’s top contributors with the bat. Daryl Mitchell scored 119, 25 and 11 in his last three knocks against the West Indies, while Devon Conway showed some good form in the SA20. Michael Bracewell has scored 35, 40*, 47 and 24 in his last five innings. Nick Kelly scored 111 and 95* for Wellington in his last five knocks.

Kyle Jamieson is enjoying a great run of form, and his ability to nip the ball back and bowl aggressively has resulted in his making a lot of early breakthroughs for New Zealand. Jayden Lennox took 3/29 against Canterbury. Michael Rae took 3/66, 3/45 and 2/89 in the two Tests against the West Indies, but the rest of the attack is young and inexperienced.

India & New Zealand Team News

India have brought back Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Siraj, in place of Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Dhruv Jurel, who all played against the Proteas. Varma is also suffering from an injury that will keep him out of the T20I series against New Zealand.

New Zealand have named something of a second-string squad as they keep an eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup. They enjoyed a clean sweep of all three ODI series they have played since losing to India in the Champions Trophy final. They enjoyed 3-0 series wins over Pakistan, England and the West Indies, but India at home is sure to be a far tougher prospect… especially with an in-form Virat Kohli squaring up against them.

India (predicted XI): Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj.

New Zealand (predicted XI): Devon Conway (w), Henry Nicholls, Will Young, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell (c), Glenn Phillips, Zak Foulkes, Kyle Jamieson, Adithya Ashok, Michael Rae, Jayden Lennox

Verdict

India v New Zealand 1st ODI

I am backing India to win. I am also backing Virat Kohli to top score for India.

Glenn Phillips is a good bet to top score for New Zealand.

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