India's pace attack subjected New Zealand to a sharp short-ball barrage on the bouncy Eden Park strip. (CREIMAS)It’s 2026 but felt a throwback to the previous century. The deliveries from India’s seamers often kicked up from short or short of length, and the batsmen pushed and stabbed, and when they sweated about the modest run-rate and tried to accelerate, they couldn’t, falling to ill-advised pulls. The ball hit the bat more often than the other way around, a perfect start to the ODI series, a rarity in these times.FOLLOW: IND vs NZ 1st ODI LIVENew Zealand lost their fourth wicket in the 17th over, three of the first four to the pull. Will Young top-edged Arshdeep Singh to Shreyas Iyer in the fifth over. Henry Nicholls pulled him straight to Naman Dhir at mid-wicket in the ninth. Tim Seifert, on 38, hopped across to a Gurnoor Brar bumper and found substitute Ruturaj Gaikwad at mid-on.The pitch gave bounce more than sideways movement, and India used it without leaning on it. Of the 60 balls their seamers bowled in the Powerplay, 23 were classed as short, 31 as good length and six as full. The short ones cost 15 runs and brought two wickets, the good-length balls cost 24 and the full ones six. Arshdeep, who bowled five of the first nine overs and whose Powerplay record in ODIs reads 17 wickets in 18 innings at 20.17, went from fuller balls to shorter ones and back from delivery to delivery.Gurnoor takes matters into his own hands! Watch #NZvIND 1st ODI LIVE on #SonySportsNetwork and #SonyLIV https://t.co/vthKxPLTY5— Sony LIV (@SonyLIV) November 4, 2026The fuller balls were the ones that went. Auqib Nabi, who bowled four of the first 11 overs, finished with 4-0-27-0, and 24 of the 27 runs came in five boundaries: a four through cover-point off a ball that seamed away, a scoop for six over the keeper, two full and wide balls driven for four in the same over, and a half-volley that Daryl Mitchell lifted over long-off. Not that there was much wrong in his bowling, for he was trying to mix up the lengths and catch the batsmen by surprise. Anshul Kamboj, bowling the hard length India wanted, gave away eight in his first four overs.It did not come free. Arshdeep was cut for four when he went short and wide in the seventh over, and Mitchell pulled another through mid-wicket in the ninth. Brar’s 15th over, which began with Seifert’s wicket, ended with a ball that kicked up onto Tom Latham’s gloves and a bouncer that Mitchell ducked under, which KL Rahul could not stop on its way to the boundary for five wides. His next over cost one run. Brar bowled at 141kph, short of a length and then fuller, and Latham, pushing on the up at a fuller ball, sent it back to Brar’s left hand, which took it behind him as he finished his follow-through. Soon after, Brar hurled a brute that almost took out Mitchell, who just managed to stab it away from in front of his face.A huge blow to New Zealand arrived in the 22nd over when Rohit Sharma intervened with a smart piece of fielding to run Mitchell out. Glenn Phillips tucked a full ball from Axar Patel to the on side for a quick single, Rohit swooped on it, threw to Rahul, and the bails came off. New Zealand were 98 for 5 after 22 overs.Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.Tags:india vs new zealand