Kohli mimics John Cena, scores 74 in India win over New Zealand

Virat Kohli performed John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ celebration in front of Glenn Phillips during the first ODI in Auckland on Wednesday (4 November), with the clip going viral on social media. The gesture came when New Zealand were 84 for 4 after 17 overs.

Earlier, Kohli took a diving catch at second slip to dismiss Nathan Smith off Anshul Kamboj, celebrating with a bow-and-arrow motion and then the Cena-style hand wave. Ravichandran Ashwin described Kohli as a ‘live wire’ on the field. India bowled New Zealand out for 185 in 40.2 overs, with Arshdeep Singh taking four wickets. During India’s chase, Kohli’s watch strap broke after being hit by a delivery, the umpire found the pin, and Kohli’s relieved reaction drew cheers. Kohli scored 74 off 51 balls as India won by five wickets with 56 balls to spare.

Kohli became the first batter in ODI history to score over 13,000 runs while batting at number three, equalled Ricky Ponting’s record for the most runs against New Zealand in the format (1,971), and broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most runs in ODI run-chases.

Update, 4 November 2026: Times Now adds that during India’s chase, Kohli’s watch strap broke after a delivery from Nathan Smith hit it, and the umpire found the missing pin, prompting a relieved reaction from Kohli. Times Now also reports that Kohli scored 74, becoming the first batter with 13,000 ODI runs at number three, equalling Ricky Ponting’s runs against New Zealand, and breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s run-chase record. Khelnow and Rediff do not cover the watch pin incident or the batting records.