New Zealand XI lock horns with Board President’s XI

Mumbai, Oct. 16: Gearing up for some quality spin test, New Zealand XI will look to get into the groove when they lock horns with the Board President’s XI in a warm-up game as a precursor to their limited overs series against India.

The Kiwis led by Kane Williamson had a few practice sessions at the Cricket Club of India, the venue of the warmup game ahead of their lung opener.

Senior players including Williamson, Ross Taylor and Martin Guptill would like to get some runs under their belt before going into the series. Board President’s XI, on the other hand, are a relatively young side captained by Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer, who has been in good form for the India A team. Youngsters including Iyer, Karun Nair, keeperbatsman Rishabh Pant, teen sensation Prithvi Shaw will be keen to make a mark and impress the national selectors.

The bowlers will also go in with a similar approach and look to unsettle the Kiwi batters. New Zealand coach Mike Henson will particularly look at his opening pair of Tom Latham and Guptill to give a descent start on a wicket expected to help the batsmen.

With the senior pacers not named in Board President’s XI squad, the Kiwi batsmen will face Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, who relatively have a little experience at the international level. The visiting batsmen will need to overcome the spin threat which will be posed by in-form Shahbaz Nadeem and rookie leggie Rahul Chhahar.

NZ XI skipper Kane Williamson had said that the practice games were important ahead of the series.