CT 2017: Indian bowlers shine in rain-hit warm-up win

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the wicket of New Zealand’s Luke Ronchi with his India teammate Ajinkya Rahane, as skipper Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni look on during the ICC Champions Trophy warm-up match at The Oval in London yesterday. Pic/Bipin Patel
Ravindra Jadeja celebrates the wicket of New Zealand's Luke Ronchi with his India teammate Ajinkya Rahane, as skipper Virat Kohli and  MS Dhoni look on during the ICC Champions Trophy warm-up match at The Oval in London yesterday. Pic/Bipin Patel

Defending champions India hit all the right chords during their resounding 45-run victory against New Zealand via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-curtailed warm-up game where skipper Virat Kohli came good after an impressive show from the bowlers.

Comeback man Mohammed Shami (3-47 in 8 overs) along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-28 in 6.4 overs) shared bulk of the spoils to dismiss New Zealand for a meagre 189 in 38.4 overs.

In reply, India were 129 for 3 in 26 overs, when rain stopped play but they were comfortably ahead of the Black Caps as per Duckworth-Lewis par score of 84 after 26 overs.

Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli

Kohli started his English summer on a bright note hitting an unbeaten 52 off 55 balls while Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played some delightful strokes square off the wicket.

Shikhar Dhawan on his comeback got some quality time out there in the middle hitting 40 off 59 balls with the help of five boundaries, mostly square off the wicket. Ajinkya Rahane (7), who is unlikely to find a place in the starting XI against Pakistan on June 4, did not do his case a world of good trying to hook a short-pitched delivery Tim Southee.

Dinesh Karthik (0) was given a chance as Kedar Jadhav is a certainty but he was all at sea against the swing. But it was skipper Kohli, who did play a few uppsih shots but controlled an easy run-chase adding 68 runs for the second wicket with Dhawan.

More importantly, Kohli got a fair amount of game time which will keep in good stead.

There was a straight drive off Sdam Milne, a couple of cover drives off Tim Southee, an elegant pull-shot. There were a couple of uppish drives which could have gone into the hands of the fielder but Kohli looked positive. Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni looked good during the brief stint at the crease. The two boundaries and a six were all square cuts. The six could have gone into Colin de Grandhomme's hands but he was a few yards inside the rope and missed the flight.



Brief scores

New Zealand 189 in 38.4 overs (L Ronchi 66, J Neesham 46*; B Kumar 3-28, M Shami 3-47) lost to India 129-3 in 26 overs (V Kohli 52*, S Dhawan 40; J Neesham 1-11, T Boult 1-34) by 45 runs (D/L method)

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