Kiwis look to fly in second warm-up tie

Mumbai, October 18

New Zealand would look to give a better account of themselves when they take on Board President’s XI in the second and final warm-up game before the first ODI, scheduled for October 22, here tomorrow. A young Board President’s XI side handed Kane Williamson’s men a 30-run defeat in the opening warm-up game. Poised for a challenging spin test against Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal, the Kiwi batsmen faltered against Shahbaz Nadeem and Karn Sharma in the tour opener. The Black Caps will thus focus on improving their performance against the slow bowlers.

For the home team, local boy Prithvi Shaw will again be the centre of attraction. He struck a fine half-century in the opening game, and would be looking to do even better in this game. For KL Rahul, who has been dropped for the New Zealand ODIs, it is a good opportunity to get some runs before he goes back to the Ranji Trophy.

For the Kiwi top-order, the key will be to show patience against the spinners. While Kane Williamson and Tom Latham got some runs in the opening game, big-hitters Ross Taylor and Colin Munro failed to get going and that cost the visitors the game. The failure of flamboyant opener Martin Guptill would also be bothering the Kiwi camp. — PTI