Indian Cricket Team
India won the second warm up match against New Zealand at Chennai more than convincingly by 117 runs, almost like an innings if one was to compare in test match terms.
This match again is not counted, it hurts even more when you win and you still know it doesn’t “really” matter. But counted or not, everyone got to see MS Dhoni back in the black. Many have been waiting for an innings like that from him for a long time, whether it matters or not it was still awesome and uplifting to watch.
The Kiwis were utterly demolished with India’s batting order and like all the Aussies; they were not prepared to face the spin attack India had ready for them.
Again India won the toss and elected to bat first, a good decision but not really testing for India as we all know the trouble with the side is not making, its chasing that ultimately leads to the downfall.
The Indian batting looked more like batting practice at the nets, Virender Sehwag made 23 runs of 30 balls, not a completely useless score but not a very useful one either, his wicket was taken by Jacob Oram.
Sachin Tendulkar missed the first warm up match against Australia; in this second warm up match however he ended up making only 17 runs of 23 balls and his wicket was claimed by the much ecstatic Tim Southee.
Gautam Gambhir played a flawless innings, showing once and for all his worth in the team making 89 runs of 85 balls but was also dismissed by Tim Southee.
Virat Kohli made a healthy and consistent contribution that of 59 runs of 68 balls until Jacob Oram took his wicket.
All and all a hideous day for Jacob Oram, he will be glad this was only a warm up match and will want to forget it as soon as possible, his bowling aside from the two wickets he took was awful. In the 9 overs that were bowled by him he ended up giving away 70 runs to the Indian top/middle order.
Suresh Raina also tried to show for the final time why he should be considered in the final 11 for the first match of the World Cup against Bangladesh on 19th February (Saturday) at Mirpur. Unfortunately for Raina it might be a little too late, he made 50 runs of 26 balls and was dismissed by Kyle Mills, Raina’s warming up should have occurred during the South Africa series so instead Virat Kohli sits on the hot seat.
The best innings was from skipper MS Dhoni’s who made a blistering 108 runs of only 64 balls, after the 40th over this match looked more like highlights, Dhoni remained unbeaten at the end of the innings.
Yusuf Pathan arrived after Raina’s dismissal and made 3 runs of 4 balls.
So, India made a gigantic 360 runs which could be chased in 7.20 runs per over, this was always going to be a daunting task for any side.
Again, India’s pace attack failed miserably and the spin worked wonders.
Martin Guptill made a reasonable 38 runs 45 balls was dismissed by spinner Ravi Ashwin. Opener Brendon McCullum made a very respectable but not enough 58 runs of 54 balls and was run out by Suresh Raina. Jesse Ryder made 32 runs of 36 balls and was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh and Ross Taylor made 5 runs of 14 balls and also fell victim to Bhajji’s spin attack.
James Franklin got out on a duck by Piyush Chawla, Scott Styris made 20 runs was also dismissed by Chawla. Yuvraj Singh took two wickets that of Jamie How who made 15 runs and Jacob Oram who made 12 runs.
Ashish Nehra had a nightmarish previous match and it continued on in the second one but he ended up taking two wickets as well that of tail enders Luke Woodcock who made 9 runs and Kyle Mills who made 2 runs, Nathan McCullum remained not out in the end.
New Zealand managed to make just 243 runs; hopefully they will improve their confidence and game for when the World Cup begins. A point to be observed is both Australia and New Zealand have focused more on pace rather than spin, which is strange considering everyone knows the Indian pitches are favourable to spin.
Tags: Chennai, Cricket, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, India, MS Dhoni, New Zealand, Warm-up Match, World Cup
