The game was expected to provide all the Indian batsmen with practice in quest to assimilate to the conditions in England but it didn’t happen as apart from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli, hardly any batsman – who is likely to feature in playing XI in the first game against Pakistan – got a game, thanks to absence of two batsmen and relentless rain that had its say after 26 overs in India’s innings. But none the less, the Indian bowlers gave a strong impression in the first practice attempt as they bundled out an arbitrary New Zealand batting line up on a score of 189.
The first televised practice game started with New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson winning the toss and deciding to bat first. New Zealand had a fast start but Martin Guptill was dismissed on a score of just nine. Kane Williamson then took his time to set his eyes on the ball and settle down. On the other hand, Luke Ronchi was churning out runs from the Indian bowling which seemed to be ready to leak runs at the cost of wickets.
Out of 43 runs that were added for the second wicket, Williamson had just constructed 8 runs, which shows that Ronchi was all set to go big. However, New Zealand continued to suffer jitters as on the very next ball after Williamson’s dismissal, Neil Broom handed a catch to MS Dhoni behind the stumps to give Shami two joy in two balls.
It was a time for India to pounce upon the opportunity and flatten Kiwi batting line up but two small successive partnerships kept New Zeland buoyed and they eclipsed the barrier of 100 runs.
Meanwhile, Ronchi continued to get runs for himself. The introduction of Ravindra Jadeja, brought wickets for India as he first bowled out dangerous looking Ronchi on a score of 66 followed by the wicket of Colin de Grandhomme in his very next over. Once again, India captured a strong position but Kiwi tailenders plus James Neesham frustrated Indian bowlers in the last hour and New Zealand posted a passable total of total of 189 on the board.
Coming to bat after a very short break, it was an opportunity for Ajinkya Rahane to present a case ahead of Shikhar Dhawan but the backup opener failed and handed an easy catch to Trent Boult on a score of seven. The onus was on two statemate Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohl to get the job done.
They steered the team’s boat adding 68 runs for the second wicket but Dhawan fell 10 runs short of a landmark. Kohli though got his ‘Midas’ touch back at this level as poor IPL form was nowhere seen in Kohli’s body language and the skipper played an inning of 52*.
Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik got his chance but was dismissed for a duck. Just after five overs after Karthik’s dismissal, the rain came into play thus not allowing other Indian batsmen like Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya to get the first taste of batting in England.
They will have another opportunity as India will face Bangladesh on May 30, which will also be televised.