VADODARA, Jan. 14 -- The One-day International series between India and New Zealand is seen as a brief interlude before T20 cricket picks up momentum again in the build-up to the World Cup starting in the sub-continent on February 7. However, an India ODI outing these days are exciting affairs as their one-format stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma feel the love of their fans, and at least one of them obliges with a fine innings every game. However, Sunday's first ODI saw a T20 flavour in the bowling, especially from India's Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna as they shared six of the eight wickets. Only one wicket fell to a spinner on a firm pitch that afforded excellent bounce for the pacers. India picked three spinners but only Kuldeep Yadav, who saw a catch put down early off his bowling, took a wicket as his wrist spin looked more effective. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar were the other spinners. With two new balls used, and an early catch dropped off Rana also not helping, New Zealand openers Devon Conway and Henry Nicholls put up a century partnership. But bowling lessons imbibed in T20 cricket saw Rana and Siraj in particular reel in the Kiwi innings. Rana is part of the T20 World Cup squad and has been growing rapidly in confidence in white-ball cricket. On Monday, his focus was on variations and accuracy with the older ball, the subtle change of pace proving very effective. Rana removed both the openers, getting Nicholls to edge a slower, angled delivery that looped to KL Rahul behind the stumps, and then having Conway playing on to the stumps with a delivery that nipped into the left-hander off the seam. Siraj, playing after Jasprit Bumrah was rested and not in India's T20 scheme, also showed his T20 smarts. He repeatedly bowled 'into the pitch', producing slow bouncers which left the batters struggling as there was no pace to feed off. Bumrah and Arshdeep are the two leading T20 bowlers, but Rana growing in confidence will gladden the team management. "T20 is obviously tough, but my favourite, and challenging, format is one-day cricket because at every phase you have to adapt," Rana told the media after the match, happy with the discipline shown by the bowlers. "If felt the pitch was a bit slow, even the bounce wasn't much. But we didn't give runs with the new ball, and in ODIs you have to do well in different phases (and we did that)." India were at the receiving end when Kyle Jamiesen arrived on the international scene. A bowler who stands at 6' 8", the bounce and ability to bring the ball into the right-hander despite possessing a natural away swing made life miserable for Indian batters on their New Zealand tour in 2020. The next year in the World Test Championships Final in Southampton, it was his five-wicket haul that took the game away from India. Injuries had laid him low, but he showed on Sunday that he was back, claiming 4/41, and spoke about his new perspective. Although India won, the second half of the game belonged to him. But for New Zealand dropping catches, especially Rana early, they might have won. In IPL, Jamieson was bought by RCB for Rs.15 Crore in the IPL 2021 auction, but didn't make an impact. He played just four matches for Punjab Kings in 2025. This season he is with Delhi Capitals. "Like any player's journey has got its ups and downs and its own experiences, I was fortunate to sort of burst onto the scene in a way and have a bit of an impact and spend some time here with IPL early on," Jamieson said. "My perspective has changed a fair bit, I look at touring and playing cricket and just being on the park with a fair amount of gratitude these days than probably what I did." Allrounder Washington Sundar was ruled out of the rest of the ODI games after complaining of "an acute onset of discomfort in his left lower rib area while bowling", BCCI said in a statement. He is the second injury concern ahead of the T20 World Cup with batter Tilak Varma recovering after undergoing lower abdomen surgery. Ayush Badoni has been named Sundar's replacement for the ODIs....