'Useless spinners': Jadeja, Kuldeep blamed as Mitchell's century helps New Zealand level series

Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav were heavily targetted on social media after their poor performances in India’s seven-wicket loss in the second ODI against New Zealand at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot on Wednesday, January 14.

Read More |  IND vs NZ Live Score 2nd ODI Updates

Jadeja failed to pick up a wicket in his eight overs while Kuldeep leaked 82 runs in his 10 overs and took only one wicket. As Indian bowlers looked ineffective, New Zealand coasted to a seven-wicket victory riding on a fine unbeaten century from Daryl Mitchell who hit the winning boundary and finished with 131. Will Young too scored a fine 87 as New Zealand chased down the target of 285 in 47.3 overs.

Mitchell dominates Indian bowlers

After setting a target of 285, India looked in command with Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana restricting New Zealand to just 37/1 in 10 overs. When Henry Nicholls fell in the 13th over, the visitors were struggling at 46/2.

Mitchell then joined Young in the middle and the duo brought New Zealand back in the game with a dominating show against Indian spin duo. Mitchell was especially effective against Kuldeep who he took for 50 runs in 32 deliveries.

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Kuldeep did break the 162-run partnership between Young and Mitchell with the wicket of the former but he kept going for runs. Jadeja, though economical, never threatened to take a wicket and finished with 0-44 in his eight overs.

Mitchell kept finding boundaries and raised his eighth ODI hundred and third against India in just 10 innings. He found good support from Glenn Phillips who also contributed with 32 unbeaten runs.

Ultimately, the masterful 131* from 117 balls Mitchell helped New Zealand end their eight-match winless streak against India in ODIs.

Earlier, KL Rahul had scored a brilliant 112 not out to pull India out of trouble and help the hosts put up a decent score of 284/7. However, due to Mitchell’s outstanding effort, it did not prove to be enough.

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Kuldeep Yadav knocking doors of Dinda Academy. Going with almost 8 per over 🫡 pic.twitter.com/mxFJQlnfid

— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) January 14, 2026

Jadeja is a proper liability in Odi format!
Seems to be playing bcoz of backing from BJP top leadership.

Also Kuldeep Yadav may end up losing his spot to Varun Chakravarthy in playing XI if he is not taking wickets regularly and leaking runs in Odi's.

— Mathematically Physicist (@mathemerizing19) January 14, 2026

India lost the match because of our poor bowling in middle order.
Kuldeep and jadeja are useless spinners 🤡#INDvsNZ

— Ucey (@KrishBhaiMDB) January 14, 2026

People always troll KL rahul for the 2023 World Cup final and blame him for the loss, but Jadeja and Kuldeep were also major reasons for the defeat.

Both of them bowled THEIR FULL 20 OVERS, yet failed to take even a SINGLE WICKET and still, no one talks about that. pic.twitter.com/TuQTPfcap6

— Virat (@chiku_190) January 14, 2026