Auckland, Nov 25 (IANS): Shreyas Iyer top-scored with 80 off 76 balls while captain Shikhar Dhawan and Shubman Gill struck 72 and 50 respectively in their fourth hundred-plus stand as an opening pair this year to propel India to a challenging 306/7 in 50 overs in their ODI series opener against New Zealand at Eden Park on Friday.

On a drop-in pitch where batting wasn't easy initially, India were aided by Dhawan and Gill having a solid opening stand of 124 in 23.1 overs after overcoming a slow start. Despite India losing four wickets for 36 runs in the middle stage of the innings, Iyer got India running towards a huge total by stitching a 94-run stand with Sanju Samson (36).

Washington Sundar applied finishing touches for India with an unbeaten blitz of 37 off 16 balls, smacking three fours and as many sixes to take India past 300 as 96 runs came off the last 10 overs.

For New Zealand, Tim Southee and Lockie Ferguson took three wickets each while Adam Milne had a scalp to his name.

Brief Scores: India 306/7 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 80, Shikhar Dhawan 72; Lockie Ferguson 3/59, Tim Southee 3/73) against New Zealand.