Virat Kohli continued to torment New Zealand with the bat, hitting an unbeaten 85 to secure India a six-wicket victory with nearly 17 overs to spare in the first one-day international at Dharamsala on Sunday.
India’s bowlers laid the foundations for a comprehensive win when they dismissed New Zealand for 190 inside 44 overs but the chase, at one stage, looked far from straightforward.
Ajinkya Rahane (33) and Rohit Sharma (14) put on 49 runs for the opening wicket, but New Zealand did not give up, reducing India to 102 for three in the 20th over.
Kohli, whose double century in Indore helped India complete a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series, then added 60 runs with ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (21) to take the game away from the tourists.
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The duo went about accumulating runs with a mixture of caution and aggression.
Dhoni was run out after a mix-up but Kohli stayed put, before sealing the win with a massive six. Kohli’s 81-ball knock also included nine boundaries.
Trent Boult had a chance to catch Kohli, then on 60, off his own bowling but spilt the ball.
Earlier, Tom Latham’s unbeaten 79 and Tim Southee’s first half-century helped New Zealand recover from 65 for seven to reach 190.
India had flexed their spin muscles in the preceding Test series but it was their pacemen who blew away the New Zealand top order on Sunday after Dhoni elected to field.
Hardik Pandya (3-31) made an eventful start to his ODI career, conceding three boundaries in his first five deliveries before dismissing Martin Guptill (12) with the sixth.
He and Umesh Yadav (2-31) combined to reduce New Zealand to 48 for five in the 13th over before the spinners joined the party.
Off-spinner Kedar Jadhav dismissed Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner off successive deliveries and leg-spinner Amit Mishra (3-49) sent back Doug Bracewell to leave New Zealand 106-8 in the 32nd over.
Yadav dropped Southee (55) when on two, and the batsman made the most of the reprieve, smashing three sixes in his 45-ball cameo as he and Latham added an innings-high 71 runs for the ninth wicket to lend some respectability to the score. Latham’s unbeaten knock included seven boundaries and a six.
The teams travel to Delhi for the second ODI of the five-match series on Thursday.
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Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Could We Be More
Artist: Kokoroko
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Rating: 3.5/5
SPEC SHEET
Processor: Apple M2, 8-core CPU, up to 10-core CPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Display: 13.6-inch Liquid Retina, 2560 x 1664, 224ppi, 500 nits, True Tone, wide colour
Memory: 8/16/24GB
Storage: 256/512GB / 1/2TB
I/O: Thunderbolt 3 (2), 3.5mm audio, Touch ID
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0
Battery: 52.6Wh lithium-polymer, up to 18 hours, MagSafe charging
Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD
Video: Support for Apple ProRes, HDR with Dolby Vision, HDR10
Audio: 4-speaker system, wide stereo, support for Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio and dynamic head tracking (with AirPods)
Colours: Silver, space grey, starlight, midnight
In the box: MacBook Air, 30W or 35W dual-port power adapter, USB-C-to-MagSafe cable
Price: From Dh4,999
'Dark Waters'
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper
Rating: ****
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5
