India Beats New Zealand by Four Runs to Secure Series Lead

India defeated New Zealand by four runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in the second one-day international in Wellington on Saturday after rain stopped play.

The victory gave India a 2-0 lead in the five-match one-day international series after they secured a five-wicket win in the opening match.

India restricted New Zealand to 134 runs, marking the home side's lowest completed total against India in one-day international cricket on home soil.

Indian captain Shubman Gill won the toss and chose to field after rain delayed the start and reduced the match to 47 overs per side.

Auqib Nabi made an early breakthrough by removing Tim Seifert for a duck before Arshdeep Singh dismissed Will Young for six runs.

Anshul Kamboj bowled Henry Nicholls for 11, leaving New Zealand at 29 for three at the end of the first powerplay.

Gurnoor Brar then tore through the middle order, taking two wickets in one maiden over to dismiss Tom Latham and Glenn Phillips.

Daryl Mitchell scored 55 runs and Mitchell Santner added 31 as the pair built a 59-run partnership to move New Zealand past 100 runs.

Axar Patel broke the stand by dismissing Mitchell before Brar removed Santner and Nathan Smith to finish with four wickets for 30 runs.

In response, Jacob Duffy removed Gill for a golden duck and dismissed Virat Kohli for seven runs to reduce India to 17 for two.

Kyle Jamieson dismissed Rohit Sharma for 23 runs and later removed Shreyas Iyer for 30 to leave India five wickets down.

Rain stopped play at the 20-over mark with India four runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score of 109.

New Zealand played without batter Devon Conway, who was ruled out of the remaining matches following a concussion sustained in training on Tuesday, according to The Hindu.

During the match, New Zealand brought in fast bowler Matt Fisher as a concussion replacement for Blair Tickner, according to Yahoo Sports.