WINNING START IN ENGLAND SOJOURN
India beat Kiwis by 45 runs via D/L method
London, May 28: Defending champions India hit all the right chords during their resounding 45-run victory against New Zealand via DuckworthLewis 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.
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 shortpitched 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 pullshot. 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.