Rahul ton steers India to 284-7 in New Zealand ODI

Wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul struck a fluent century as India reached 284-7 in the second one-day international against New Zealand on Wednesday.

Skipper Shubman Gill made 56 before a brief collapse and a 73-run fifth-wicket partnership between Rahul, who made an unbeaten 112, and Ravindra Jadeja in Rajkot.

Rahul raised his eighth ODI ton in 87 balls with a six off Kyle Jamieson -- and seemed to whistle as he soaked in the applause.

India, who lead the three-match series 1-0, were invited to bat and started strongly courtesy of Gill and Rohit Sharma, who made 24, as the opening pair put together 70 runs.

Rohit failed to capitalise on his start and fell to Kris Clarke, before pace spearhead Jamieson sent back Gill, who hit his second successive fifty. India slipped from 99-1 to 118-4.

Clarke kept up the charge with his medium-pace bowling to dismiss Shreyas Iyer for eight and the in-form Virat Kohli for 23.

The 37-year-old Kohli, who toppled Rohit to take top spot in ODI rankings on Wednesday, walked back to stunned silence after he inside-dged a delivery onto his stumps.

Both Kohli and Rohit play only the ODI format after the veteran duo retired from T20 and Test cricket.

Rahul then took centre stage to rebuild the innings along with Jadeja, who made 27, as the pair mixed the right dose of caution and aggression.

Wickets kept tumbling from one end including Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Harshit Rana, but Rahul stood firm to finish with a flourish as he hit 11 fours and one six in his 92-ball knock.

New Zealand need 285 to keep the series alive.

The series will be followed by five T20s, ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka between February 7 and March 8.