Champions Trophy 2017: India vs New Zealand Warm-Up, 5 talking points
Rain cut short India's chase at The Oval but not before they were 45 ahead of the par Duckworth-Lewis score after New Zealand were bowled out for a paltry 189. Virat Kohli led India in the chase with an unbeaten half-century and the subcontinental side were 129/3 in 26 overs when heavy rain lashed the ground.
Earlier, Mohammed Shami took the top three Kiwi wickets to trigger a collapse but Luke Ronchi revived them with a much-needed half-century opening the innings. However, Jadeja picked up two wickets in two overs to put New Zealand back into misery. Not even a valiant effort from James Neesham could get them past 200.
India lost Rahane early in the chase but Dhawan and Kohli rebuilt admirably before the former and Dinesh Karthik fell in quick succession. Dhoni then joined hands with the Indian skipper and the duo had put on 25 off 30 balls when rain stopped play.
Besides a poor display with the bat, New Zealand were also guilty of dropping Kohli, Dhawan and Dhoni pretty early in their respective innings.
Brief Scores : New Zealand 189/10 (Ronchi 66, Bhuvneshwar 3/28) lost to India 129/3 (Kohli 52, Dhawan 40)
Here are the talking points from the warm-up game in London.
#5 Mohammed Shami underlines his value after indifferent IPL
Mohammed Shami's best moment in the IPL came when he cleaned up David Warner with a smart yorker. The injury- prone seamer is back in the Indian limited overs side and has already shown signs of hitting his strap in the Champions Trophy. In the warm-up against the Kiwis, Shami got rid of the dangerous Martin Guptill with extra bounce.
But his best in the game came when he had Kane Williamson and Neil Broom off back to back deliveries. Luke Ronchi had smashed a six and two fours in the over only to see his skipper guide Shami straight to Rahane in the slips. The Indian seamer wasn't done and extracted some extra bounce next ball to have Broom caught behind.