Indian spin troika of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra kept their stranglehold on the inexperienced West Indies Board President's XI to bowl them out for a paltry 180 on the first day of the final warm-up game, here today.
At stumps, India were 93 for 3 in reply in 25.3 overs with KL Rahul (30 batting) looking solid while Cheteshwar Pujara (28) was dismissed of the last ball of the day.
Regular openers Murali Vijay (23) and Shikhar Dhawan (9) were dismissed quickly by the West Indies new ball bowlers.
But the day belonged to the Indian spinners with Jadeja recording miserly figures of 3/16 in 13 overs as he stifled the batsmen for runs with accurate bowling.
Ashwin (3/62 in 19.5 overs) although rusty and Mishra (2/45 in 10 overs), who was a tad bit expensive, nevertheless complemented Jadeja by picking up crucial wickets with the home team were all out in 62.5 overs after opting to bat.
When India started bowling, Mohammed Shami was a bit wayward with the new ball and did not bowl after his first five-over spell in the morning.
Rookie Shardul Thakur (1/24), meanwhile, was impressive with his line and length and often beat the batsmen. He got the opening breakthrough, with skipper Leon Johnson (3) caught by a diving Stuart Binny at mid-off.
Binny (1-8) was the first-change bowler and added to the wickets' column, removing Shai Hope (11). He too bowled the initial spell of five overs only, as most of the bull-work during the day was trusted to the three spinners who didn't disappoint.
Ashwin seemed to have recovered completely from his injury-scare before departing from here, as he worked out a nice length after initial rustiness thereafter during his 19.5 overs.
Although the pitch was slow, he used the bounce beautifully. Opener John Campbell (34) was stumped charging Ashwin, and later the off-spinner also removed Rahkeem Cornwall (41) and Gudakesh Motie (8).
Cornwall was the top-scorer for the Board President's side, hitting seven fours in his 56-ball stay. The burly batsman looked to be on the attack against the spinners and had an interesting duel with Amit Mishra (2-45), whom he hit for a six.
But the real star of the day was Ravindra Jadeja, who picked up wickets in two lengthy spells spanning 13 overs, and ran through the middle order.
He bowled Jermaine Blackwood (36), and then struck quick blows after lunch to remove Vishaul Singh (3) and Montcin Hodge (6).
(REOPENS FGN 14)
Jadeja used the bounce on offer to good effect and was nearly unplayable at times on account of his accuracy. Once Cornwall was dismissed off Ashwin, the end came quickly for the hosts after tea, leaving almost an entire session for the Indians to bat.
Vijay then opened with Dhawan and the duo put on 34 runs for the opening wicket. The right-hander looked at ease during his stay and the only mistake he made was when he chased a wide delivery to be caught behind off Chemar Holder (1-8).
Earlier, Dhawan too showed some patience at the crease and was out-scored by his partner. Just when he looked to be opening up, he played a loose stroke to be caught at backward point off Jason Dawes (1-15).
Rahul who hit two fours, was sent in to bat at No 3 and Pujaraput on 59 runs for the third wicket. They didn't look in any hurry and wanted to just spend time in the middle.
Towards close of play, there were a couple hiccups in terms of running between the wickets. Pujara was then bowled in the last over of the day, trying to turn one off Cornwall (1-17) onto the leg-side.
Southee along with Trent Boult, the highest ranked ODI
bowler, are bound to trouble any batting line-up.
New Zealand will look upto Martin Guptil and Ross Taylor, who looked clueless against Indian spinners in the Test series, to come good if the visitors are to match India in the ODI series.
The Black Caps will feel much familiar with the chilly conditions of Dharamsala, the venue of the first ODI.
The toss is expected to play a vital role in deciding the outcome of the match as dew will be a major factor once the night falls.
Teams (from):
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain and wicketkeeper), Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Jayant Yadav, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Kedar Jhadav, Mandeep Singh, Amit Mishra, Dhawal Kulkarni, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (Captian), Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Tom Latham, Matt Henry, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Ross Taylor, BJ Watling, Tim Southee.
Match starts 12:30pm.
