Daryl Mitchell celebrates his century in the third ODI between the Black Caps and India. Photo / Photosport
The first time is a fluke, the second time is consistency.
Fourteen months on from the Black Caps’ famous 3-0 away test sweep against India, a heavily depleted New Zealand side have done it again.
Victories in Rajkot and Indore have seen the Black Caps add a One-Day International (ODI) series trophy to their collection, toppling their hosts 2-1.
Admittedly in a lesser form of the game, this time around was even better.
For a start, the Black Caps were forced to come from behind after a four-wicket defeat in Vadodara. Most impressive, though, was just how depleted this New Zealand side were.
Regular captain Mitchell Santner, batting lynchpins Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra and Tom Latham and bowling spearheads Matt Henry and Jacob Duffy were all unavailable for one reason or another.
In their places, Daryl Mitchell (352 runs at an average of 176), Glenn Phillips (150 runs at 75), Kyle Jamieson (six wickets at 28.16) and debutant Kristian Clarke (seven wickets at 26.14) proved more than enough to go toe-to-toe with the game’s modern superpower.
“It’s definitely right up there,” Mitchell, the man of the series, said. “The test tour [in 2024] was something that was very special to achieve.
“It’s just cool to be part of a group of New Zealanders who are getting stuck in and achieving history, things we’ve never done as a group before.
“We’ve come over here as the Black Caps many, many times over the years. We’ve learned a lot of lessons from our past players and how they’ve gone about it.
“For us to have won an ODI series, especially with a younger group that we had this series, it’s very, very special.”
India can rightly point to their 2025 Champions Trophy final win over the Black Caps to deny any kind “bunny” status against New Zealand. However, that final was played in Dubai, in a tournament effectively organised for India to win, regardless of their opponents.
At the very least, Kiwi fans can go back with the Black Caps’ World Cup semifinal victory in 2019, and inaugural World Test Championship crown in 2021.
The reality, though, is India have lost their two most recent series against the Black Caps, with five T20 Internationals to come.
For all their economic superiority in the sport’s administration, India have never looked weaker at home – in conditions designed for their superiority – than they do now. The end of 2025 also saw a 2-0 defeat to South Africa, meaning India have fallen in two of their last three home test series.
In part, India’s financial might has proven to be a contributing factor to their recent woes. With a population in the billions – largely fanatical about cricket – India has become the epicentre of where the sport is played.
The 2023 ODI World Cup was held in India, as was the 2025 Women’s World Cup, and this year’s T20 World Cup for good measure.
On top of that, the Indian Premier League also offers overseas players the chance to familiarise themselves with local conditions.
Indian players, meanwhile, are forbidden by their board from reciprocating and playing in other countries’ leagues.
And even though not all of the Black Caps had played in India before, enough had in order to pass on their knowledge for their teammates’ benefit.
“With the introduction of franchise cricket, it’s become more and more prominent that we’re coming over to these parts of the world,” captain Michael Bracewell explained.
“With the international game as well, coming over here and having great series against India, guys are becoming more comfortable with the conditions.
“The shared experiences of the guys that had been here before, and understanding how to deal with the crowd, wickets and what to expect ... we were able to lean on the more experienced guys who’ve been here several times.
“The power of our group is people willing to share their experiences – you don’t have to experience them yourself to be able to learn from them.
“It’s certainly something we spoke about as a group coming into this series, it put us in really good stead.”
Now, admittedly in a different form of the game, the Black Caps’ ODI series win sets them up for even greater things.
Only 20 days stand between the win in Indore and the start of New Zealand’s T20 World Cup campaign, against Afghanistan in Chennai.
For a side that were accused of not preparing correctly at the last T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the USA two years ago, New Zealand now have five more games in the shortest format to acclimatise.
Fittingly, the 2024 tournament also saw the Black Caps open against Afghanistan and suffer New Zealand’s first defeat to the former minnows in any format.
And with the confidence of an ODI series victory now under their belts, the Black Caps can only continue to get stronger in Indian conditions.
“Spending time in the middle and getting used to the conditions is very valuable, regardless of the format,” Bracewell said.
“As a group, knowing that, regardless of the format, we’ve taken on India now and have been successful when we’ve stuck to the things that we want to stick to gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.
“As we narrow down, I’m sure the intricacies of the T20 game [are what] we’ll focus on. But the broader picture of things moving into the World Cup will become clearer as we get closer to that time.”
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.