More questions for hosts after another historic loss

After Test win in 2024, NZ clinch ODI series for the first time in India

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

Centurion Virat Kohli walks back after getting out in Indore on Sunday | AFP

AN ODI series such as the one between India and New Zealand runs the risk of being lost to some of the sport’s usual elements.

With the 50-over World Cup 20 months away in a different continent where conditions are expected to be very different, you cannot gleam much from matches played in India. What has happened in January 2026 has little meaning or context to what may happen in October 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. There’s of course a qualification element to next year’s World Cup but India are well placed. In essence, this whole series, then, was a bit of a box-ticking exercise with no long-term jeopardy associated to it but more on that anon.