It was a dominating performance by the Kiwi batsmen which ensured a comfortable win for them in the 2nd Practise against the Indian Board President’s XI after losing the opening encounter to the same opponents. Riding on impressive centuries by Ross Taylor and Tom Latham, the visitors posted a mammoth 343/9 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Jaydev Unadkat was the pick of the Board President’s XI bowlers bagging 4/57 in his 10 overs.
The hosts were in the game for a major part of their innings but wickets at regular intervals pegged them back despite maintaining a healthy run rate. Jaydev Unadkat was impressive with the bat too and his innings of 44 of 24 deliveries helped BPXI get close to the total before falling short by 33 runs.
Winning the toss, Kiwis skipper Kane Williamson opted to bat. Colin Munro walked out in the middle with Martin Guptill and after sharing an impressive stand of 46, Munro was dismissed off the bowling of Jaydev Unadkat. Captain Kane Williamson was the next man to follow as he failed to read a wrong un from Karn Sharma and was castled by the leggie.
Sharma got his 2nd wicket in the 16th over when the set Martin Guptill gave a simple return catch back to the bowler as New Zealand were reduced to 73/3. From there on it was the pair of Ross Taylor and Tom Latham who started resurrecting the innings. The duo was aggressive and took on the attack to the BPXI bowlers. Dhawal Kulkarni, in particular, was smashed to different parts of the ground especially by Taylor who went berserk.
The duo shared a sensational stand of 166 runs for the 5th wicket which was laced with numerous boundaries. It was a great stand before Ross Taylor decided to retire to give the other batsmen a chance to bat. His innings of 102 of 83 deliveries were laced with 14 fours and a solitary hit over the fence. Tom Latham also retired on 108 as the score read 320. The visitors eventually managed 343 as Mitchell Santner and Henry Nicholls lifted them with breezy innings towards the end.
For the Board President’s XI, it was youngster Prithvi Shaw and Karun Nair who started proceedings. Karun Nair, in particular, looked in good touch and struck some delightful shots to get going. Prithvi looked a bit uncomfortable but managed to eke out a couple of boundaries before Mitchell Santner castled him with a brilliant delivery.
Rishabh Pant walked out in the middle and struck a monstrous six but soon he also fell prey to Santer after scoring only 7. Captain Shreyas Iyer played a few impressive shots but couldn’t quite carry on and was dismissed for 24. Wickets kept tumbling as Karun Nair was the next man to go back to the pavilion as BPXI was reduced to 121/4.
Gurkeerat Singh Mann played a brilliant knock in the middle overs and contributed 66 of 45 deliveries, an innings decorated with 7 fours and 3 hits over the fence. Wickets kept falling one after the other as BPXI’s score read 231/8. From there on it was a whirlwind knock by Jaydev Unadkat which ignited the hopes of the host team but the target was a big one. He eventually stroked his way to 44 of 24 deliveries which contained 5 fours and 3 sixes. It was one of those rare occasions when Unadkat made a significant contribution with the bat for his team. They were eventually bowled out for 310 in the 48th over.
