New Zealand defeated India by six wickets in their first World Cup warm-up match at the Kennington Oval on Saturday.
In a below-par 180-run chase, New Zealand lost its openers Colin Munro and Martin Guptill inside the first 10 overs. Munro (4) was given leg-before in the second over of the match off Jasprit Bumrah. Hardik Pandya dismissed Guptill (22), who played an aerial but KL Rahul ran to his right from mid-on and completed the catch, leaving the Kiwis at 37/2
Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor built a solid 114-run partnership for the third wicket to well place New Zealand. The duo completed their respective fifties before Yuzvendra Chahal got rid of Williamson for 67.
Having enough wickets in hands, Taylor and Henry Nicholls almost sealed the win for New Zealand with one run required but Ravindra Jadeja denied Taylor (71) to hit the winning run as he was caught by Virat Kohli at the point. Nicholls without making any mistake hit the winning single to Kuldeep Yadav and took New Zealand over the line with 77 balls remaining.
Earlier, Jadeja saved a sinking Indian side and dragged the team to post 179 all out after captain Kohli opted to bat.
India suffered blows as Trent Boult engulfed the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan inside four overs, leaving India at 10/2. Kohli and KL Rahul tried to rebuild the side but Boult returned and shattered the stumps of Rahul for six.
Kohli, too, was sent back to the pavillion as Colin de Grandhomme bowled the Indian captain for 18. Hardik Pandya attacked from one end while MS Dhoni calmly held the other end when India were at 39/4 and had more than 30 overs to play.
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However, the duo could not cross the 100-run mark for the fifth wicket and lost Hardik (30) off Jimmy Neesham. In the same over, Neesham picked his second wicket in the name of Dinesh Karthik for four.
Tim Southee joined the party as he got a big wicket of Dhoni (17), who gave a straight catch to Neesham at short midwicket. Neesham took his second wicket as he dismissed Bhuvneshwar Kumar cheaply for one, leaving India at 115/8.
Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav pushed the scoreboard with slowly building the innings. Jadeja earned his well compiled fifty, which he celebrated in signature style by swinging his bat like a sword.
Soon after Jadeja (54) became a prey as Martin Guptill got a screamer at point off Lockie Ferguson. Boult picked up his fourth wicket as he dismissed Kuldeep (2) and wrapped up India inside 40 overs. Boult and Neesham were the star bowlers as they shared seven wickets between them.
New Zealand will take on West Indies, while India will next meet Bangladesh on May 28, respectively, in their second warm-up fixtures.
Brief scores: New Zealand 180/4 (R Taylor 71, K Williamson 67, H Pandya 1-26, R Jadeja 1-27) beat India 179 (R Jadeja 54, H Pandya 30, T Boult 4-33, J Neesham 3-26) by 6 wickets.
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