India beat New Zealand by 4 runs in the second ODI in Wellington on Saturday. Rain ended the match early. The Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method decided it. India were 4 runs ahead of the par score when play stopped. The win gives India a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Updated: 8 November 2026, 10:30 AM IST
Quick Read
- New Zealand were bowled out for 134 in 41 overs; Gurnoor Brar took a career-best 4 for 30.
- India reached 113 for 7 in 26 overs before rain stopped play; the DLS par score was 109, so India won by 4 runs.
- Brar was Player of the Match. The third ODI is in Hamilton on 10 November.
Brar’s night in Wellington
Gurnoor Brar did the damage. The young fast bowler took 4 wickets for 30 runs in 10 overs. It is the best bowling of his career so far. He was named Player of the Match.
India won the toss and chose to bowl first at the Hnry Stadium in Wellington. The call worked at once. Brar removed Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips in the same over. New Zealand were 53 for 5 at that point. The home crowd went quiet.
Daryl Mitchell fought back with 55. He was the only New Zealand batter to pass 30, apart from captain Mitchell Santner, who made 31. Brar came back and broke the stand by dismissing Santner. Then he removed Nathan Smith to finish his four wickets. Anshul Kamboj took 2 for 25. Auqib Nabi took 2 for 31. Axar Patel took two wickets as well.
New Zealand were all out for 134 in 41 overs. That is their lowest ODI total against India on home soil.
Brar now has 7 wickets in the first two ODIs of this series. He took 3 for 44 in the first match. Captain Shubman Gill praised him after the game. Brar said the extra bounce and pace in New Zealand helped him. He bowled hard-length balls, to his strength, and the pitch did the rest.
A chase that fell apart — then rain saved India
India’s chase of 135 started badly. Wickets fell in a heap. Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 30. KL Rahul was 26 not out when the rain came. The rest of the batting line-up could not stay in.
Kyle Jamieson took 3 for 35. Jacob Duffy also took 3 for 35. The two fast bowlers shared six wickets between them. India were 113 for 7 in 26 overs when the rain got heavy.
Then came the DLS maths. In a rain-hit match, the DLS method sets a par score — the score the chasing team must be past when play stops. The par score was 109. India had 113. That is 4 runs ahead. So India won by 4 runs.
The match was called off at 11 pm local time. No more play was possible. India had done just enough.
Also read: India vs New Zealand 1st ODI: Kohli’s record night
The match in numbers
| New Zealand | India | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 134 all out (41 overs) | 113/7 (26 overs) |
| Top scorer | Daryl Mitchell 55 | Shreyas Iyer 30 |
| Best bowler | Jamieson 3/35, Duffy 3/35 | Gurnoor Brar 4/30 |
| Result | Lost by 4 runs (DLS) | Won — DLS par 109 |
This table is our own count, put together from the match reports. Two numbers tell the story. Brar’s 4 wickets were 4 of the 10 New Zealand wickets to fall — 40% of the innings, from one bowler. And the margin was 4 runs. One boundary, in either direction, would have flipped the result.
It was a close game twice over. New Zealand’s 134 was low. India’s 113 for 7 was shaky. Either side could have won it. The rain picked India.
What this means for the series
India lead 2-0 in a five-match series. They need one more win to take the series. New Zealand need to win all three remaining games to win it.
The third ODI is in Hamilton on Tuesday, 10 November. New Zealand will want a dry day and a better batting show. Their batters have now failed twice in a row. Mitchell’s 55 was the only fifty of the match from either side.
For India, the worry is the batting. Seven wickets fell for 113 runs. The top order did not fire. The bowlers saved the game in Wellington, as they did in the first ODI. Gill will want his batters to step up in Hamilton. A 2-0 lead is strong. But it is not a series win yet.
Also read: India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI preview: Wellington
How DLS works, in one minute
Rain ruins limited-overs cricket. DLS is the fix. It is a maths formula that works out a fair target when overs are lost.
Here is the simple version. Each team has two resources: overs left, and wickets in hand. Lose overs to rain, and your target drops. Lose wickets, and it drops slower — because you have fewer batters left to use the overs.
In Wellington, India had 7 wickets down when the rain came. That mattered. With only 3 wickets left, the par score was set lower than it would have been with wickets in hand. India were past it by 4 runs. That is why the win looks so tight. It was tight. Four runs is the smallest kind of DLS win.
FAQ
Q: Who won the India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI?
A: India won by 4 runs via the DLS method in Wellington on 7 November 2026. New Zealand made 134 all out; India were 113/7 in 26 overs when rain ended play, 4 runs ahead of the DLS par score of 109.
Q: Who was the Player of the Match?
A: Gurnoor Brar. He took a career-best 4 for 30 as India bowled New Zealand out for 134. He has 7 wickets in the first two ODIs of the series.
Q: When is the 3rd ODI between India and New Zealand?
A: Tuesday, 10 November 2026, in Hamilton. India lead the five-match series 2-0.
Also read
- India vs New Zealand 1st ODI: Kohli’s record night
- India vs New Zealand 2nd ODI preview: Wellington
- India vs New Zealand 5th T20I result: Hamilton
Sources
- The Tribune (ANI) — Gurnoor Brar on exploiting New Zealand conditions; match result and figures (primary match report): https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/sports/was-bowling-to-my-strengths-gurnoor-brar-on-exploiting-new-zealand-conditions-in-second-odi/amp/
- Rediff — Brar’s four-wicket haul and the four-run DLS win; 2-0 series lead; Hamilton next: https://m.rediff.com/cricket/report/2nd-odi-india-pacer-gurnoor-brar-explains-how-he-is-making-the-most-of-new-zealand-conditions/20261107.htm
- Onmanorama — Brief scores: NZ 134 all out (Mitchell 55, Brar 4/30); India 113/7 (Iyer 30, Duffy 3/35, Jamieson 3/35): https://www.onmanorama.com/sports/cricket/2026/11/07/gurnoor-brar-fires-india-edge-past-new-zealand-second-odi-india-vs-new-zealand-odi.amp.html
Sasanka Sekhar Pradhan is the founder of India Presents, an India-focused news site. He covers daily box-office trackers, India news, economy explainers, sports previews and festival guides — in simple English, so readers across India can follow fast-moving stories without jargon. His focus is what a story means for the reader: the number that matters, the source behind it, and what happens next. India Presents publishes daily, with day-trackers updated as new figures come in.
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