Virat Kohli powers India's chase with massive ton

Virat Kohli joined forces with MS Dhoni to thump a mammoth 154 from 202 balls that guided India to a comfortable seven wicket win - their second of the five-match ODI series - in Mohali on Sunday.

The hosts - left smarting after the narrow six-run loss in the Capital three-day ago, had Ross Taylor to thank - in part - for dropping Kohli on six in the fifth over of the 286-run chase.

Kohli made the most of the reprieve and powered the chase with his captain, who had promoted himself to number 4, after India lost Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane inside the first ten overs - with the score on 41.

Kohli, as has been the trend, began on a cautious note to ensure he held his wicket in tact as New Zealand's seamers looked to make more inroads. The team batting second had won each of the last three ODIs in Mohali before this, chasing down 299, 258 and 304. The Kohli-Dhoni combine looked to add to that tally.

The duo rotated the strike early on and when the opportunity presented itself, found the boundary with ease. Dhoni - in particular - did the bulk of the hitting and clubbed six fours and three sixes in his 91-ball 80, before he fell in the 36th over. The wicket-keeper batsman became the the 17th player overall, the fifth Indian, and the third wicketkeeper to reach the 9000-run mark in ODI's.

India needed 93 from 78 balls at that stage and Kohli had to step up a notch, and he did just that, by first flicking Tim Southee for a boundary past fine leg and then guiding James Neeshm for a single to third man to bring up his 26th ODI hundred. Kohli and Pandey found the boundary more regularly to reduce the deficit to 55 from 48 balls.

New Zealand's chances of pulling of another win looked bleak as India had seven wickets in hand. Kohli's late onslaught off Trent Boult - where he hit three fours and a six - tied scores with two overs still to play. Pandey hit the winning runs off the second ball of the 49th over.

"Bit of luck went my way, I feel sorry for Ross, it's never easy to drop a catch and the batsman carries through. I've done that, and Brendon got 300 in Wellington," Kohli said. "We may have given a bit too much to New Zealand, but we took it as an opportunity to chase them down, because we know we are a good chasing team."

"Good to have MS up the order, and Manish gave me confidence as well when he came in. Shows the confidence he has, he was run-out in the last game, but he came here and did his job. Some of the boundaries he hit early on helped me relax. We fed off each other, I fed off MS as well. And it wasn't the easiest pitch."

"Some balls were stopping on us. In the past I have tried to play out of my skin, getting overexcited, but I've realised if I can time the ball, and hit the gaps and run hard, I can still get runs. If a bowler can hit the right areas a be good, a batsman can be good playing proper shots. Me and MS had a chat, he took on the spinner, even mistimed hits go over the crowd. I know teams want to get me out immediately, so I take my time, go with the flow and then attack at the end. For that you need to play percentage cricket and I know I can play good cricketing shots and still get runs"