Published: Sep 16, 2016, 10:02 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 16, 2016, 04:32 PM (IST)
New Zealand kick-off their tour preparations on their tour of India with a three-day game against Mumbai‘s Ranji team at Feroz Shah Kolta Stadium, Delhi. They were quite surprised by how the curator Amit Dutta used a green top on Kotla pitch as the Kiwis were expecting a green top. The Kiwis included three spinners in their squad— leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner and off-spinner Mark Craig. Spin has been the strong point for New Zealand in the recent past. The best example would be the opening match of ICC T20 World Cup 2016 where Indian batsmen were bamboozled by Kiwi spinners at Nagpur. BlackCaps skipper Williamson was taken aback from Kotla pitch.
Rohit Sharma will be playing in the practice match to get into the groove before the Test series. His performance in the Duleep Trophy final was not outstanding and would see this as an opportunity to get a berth in playing XI of India at Kanpur on September 22 in first Test. While the game will hold its own importance for Kane Williamson and his side, in getting used to conditions in India, it will also provide an opportunity for the Mumbai Ranji team to prepare themselves for the upcoming domestic season. Their players will also be keen to begin their pre-match preparations on a positive note.
Ross Taylor did not look happy with the pitch but at the same time pleased that they are having a warm-up game at all as they did not get to practice on their last two tours. Taylor said, “We are expecting the wickets to turn over here. We are not expecting the wickets to be like this one here at Kotla. We are expecting it turn for the Test matches. Last two tours, we did not even have a warm up game. So nice to have one this time.”
Squads:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson(c), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Mark Craig, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, BJ Watling(wk), James Neesham, Henry Nicholls, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner
Mumbai: Aditya Tare(c & wk), Armaan Jaffer, Jay Gokul Bista, Vishal Dabholkar, Tushar Deshpande, Royston Dias, Siddhesh Lad, Kaustubh Pawar, Balwinder Sandhu, Sufiyan Shaikh, Rohit Sharma, Harshal Soni, Suryakumar Yadav, Vijay Gohil, Parikshit Valsangkar
