The highlight of the day was the two century-plus partnerships from the young Mumbai batsmen, with the second wicket stand between Pawar and Jaffer yielding 107 runs while Pawar and Yadav produced another 155 runs for the fourth wicket.
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New Zealand’s bowlers aren’t getting downhearted despite a taxing day in the field in their warm-up match against Mumbai in Delhi. Not a lot was expected from the quicker bowlers on a flat deck but the effort from New Zealand’s spin trio of Ish Sodhi (2/132), Mitchell Santer (1/71) and Mark Craig (0/60) was also nothing noteworthy.
Rohit Sharma, whose place in India’s Test squad has come under plenty of scrutiny, walked in next at No.4. Walking into the middle after the fall of Jaffer, Rohit took 10 balls to get off the mark but he opened his account in style, a straight hit for a six on the bowling of leg-spinner Sodhi.
Yadav and Pawar then went after the bowling, the former benefiting from a spilt caught-bowled chance by Sodhi.
New Zealand may still consider fielding all three tweakers for the first Test in Kanpur starting on Thursday, particularly after seamers Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell and Neil Wagner battled for any assistance.
In fact, Sodhi was punished more severely by Yadav who smashed eight sixes and nine boundaries during his 86-ball blitzkrieg. Such was his dominance that he brought up his 50 as well as his 100 with a six. He raced to his hundred post tea and was dismissed soon after.
The star of the day for them was opener Kaustubh Pawar, who struck an excellent century before retiring hurt as well as 17-year-old right-hander Armaan Jaffer, who made 69, looking comfortable against a world class attack as the duo gave their side the control with a stand of 107 runs, before the latter was dismissed by Ish Sodhi. Having played patiently for a 40-ball 18, he was frustrated by Sodhi and danced out of the tracks, only to be stumped by BJ Watling – something that wouldn’t have done him any favours when the need of the hour was for him to prove his temperament for the longer format. “The surface did not break up and turn that much”.
“We are not really concerned at this stage”, he told reporters. Like I said they played well.
With just a day left for the match to get over, New Zealand will be aiming to brush up their skills and spend some valuable time in the middle before the first Test starts on September 22 at the Green Park stadium.
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The conditions are expected to be different in Kanpur, in comparison to the warm-up tie here.
