Defending champions India had a good start for their Champions Trophy campaign with a 45-run victory against New Zealand via Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain- curtailed warm-up game here yesterday.
Mohammed Shami (3 for 47 in 8 overs), who is making a comeback, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3 for 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. Indian skipper Kohli started his campaign on a brighter note hitting an unbeaten 52 off 55 balls while Mahendra Singh Dhoni also played some delightful strokes.
Shikhar Dhawan on his comeback got some quality time out there in the middle hitting 40 off 59 balls. India was without Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma in this game. While Yuvraj is recovering from a viral fever, Rohit has been granted permission to attend a family wedding by the team management.
This post was published on May 29, 2017 6:32 pm