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New Zealand kept up their perfect T20 record against India as they beat the World Champions by 9 runs in the first official warm-up game for either side heading into the T20 World Cup in England.

India struggling with injuries and fitness before the tournament, put out a competent eleven to combat a New Zealand side who had already spent a week in England, and had played a couple of practice games against the likes of Bangladesh and Netherlands.

The Kiwis performed well as a batting unit, with Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor both contributing well at the top of the order, and Scott Styris and James Franklin playing useful cameos near the end to guide New Zealand to a competitive 170 for 7. India on their part made an excellent start, breezing through to 55 for 1 in 6 overs, and seemed to have the game well in control at all times, but a couple of good overs at the end from Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram saw the Blackcaps cruise home with runs to spare.

 

India won the toss and elected to field first, going into the game without some of their marquee players - Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan. India named Yuvraj Singh on the teamsheet (allowed to hold 13 players for the warm-up games), but did not feature the big-hitting left hander in the game at all.

Praveen Kumar opened proceedings for India, conceding 7 runs of his opening, and rather surprisingly only over of the match. Brendon McCullum continued from where he left off towards the end of the IPL, as New Zealand took 10 runs off RP Singh's first over to put India on the back foot straight away.

MS Dhoni brought Ishant Sharma on for the third over, and the fast bowler responded to his captain's call picking up the wicket of Jesse Ryder with a full-ish delivery which sent the left-hander's off-stump flying miles.

Praveen Kumar held on to a skier from McCullum to send the wicketkeeper batsman back to the dug-out off Sharma's second over. McCullum had scored 31 of his side's 34 runs at that stage, and was looking extremely dangerous.

With two new batsmen at the crease, Dhoni brought on his spinners. The move worked for a while as Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh all bowled decent first overs to keep a handle on the New Zealand run-rate.

Ross Taylor, also a rejuvenated IPL star, took the attack to Ojha, carting the left-arm spinner for two sixes deep into the leg-side stands. Ojha did however pick up the wicket of Martin Guptil later in the over to restore parity to proceedings.

Harbhajan should have made it another double blow for India, but Dhoni fluffed a regulation chance when the batsman was on 22.

Ishant Sharma picked up his third wicket of the day as Dhoni's decision to bring Sharma back paid off instantly, as he picked up the wicket of Oram for just 5.

Ojha swapped ends, but continued to be expensive as Taylor picked up another couple of boundaries of an otherwise almost perfect over.

New-man-in Scott Styris joined in the party as IPL Purple Cap holder RP Singh's return to the international fold proved to be expensive as well.

Taylor finally fell to Harbhajan Singh in the 16th over for 41, however he had taken his side to a useful 115 runs by this stage, and with a long batting lineup, the Kiwis looked all set for a big score.

Styris fell 7 balls later for 29 of 19, but all Indian hopes of a good end to the innings were thwarted by Nathan McCullum and James Franklin as the pair added 31 runs off the last 2 overs to take the Kiwis into the break full of confidence.

India came out swinging in response as Rohit Sharma opened the batting for the first time in his international career; and he had Gautam Gambhir for company. All the fireworks were coming off Sharma's bat, as the Mumbai lad took 17 off Iain O'Brien's second over.

Gambhir fell for a sedate 14 off 15 balls of the last ball of the fifth over, but an unperturbed Sharma showed no signs of slowing down at the other end as he flicked James Franklin from outside the off-stump over long-on for six.

However in what was a disastrous 7th over for India, the wily veteran Daniel Vettori picked up the wickets of Dhoni (stumped) and Sharma (played on) to bring his team straight back into the contest.

Another couple of IPL stars replaced the pair as left-handers Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina were paired together. The two added a handy 69 runs for the fourth wicket as India were cruising to victory, needing just 45 runs off 35 balls.

However, a good diving catch from Jesse Ryder handed Jacob Oram the crucial wicket of Raina for 45 (24 balls) and it proved to be the decisive moment in the match.

India never really recovered from that point on. The Pathan brothers came and went, Vettori taking an outstanding caught and bowled to dismiss Yusuf, before running out Irfan near the end of the innings.

Jadeja poked his way to a-run-a-ball 41, but the big hits at the end never came for India, handing New Zealand their third T20 victory over the champs.

Top-scoring batsman Ross Taylor said the win provides a good boost to the team - and may have some people rethinking the Blackcaps underdog status.

"Momentum is a big thing in Twenty20 cricket - even if it is a warm-up game it's very important," Taylor said.

"Reading a few papers nobody's really mentioned us too much - we're slipping under the radar a bit. Winning this game, we might be talked about a bit more.

"We know that we're a good side and that we can play competitive cricket. We've made semi-finals in the past, and in the last World Cup, but still no-one really talks about us. We're happy about that and hopefully we can prove a few people wrong."

 

India has a lot of work to do should they wish to defend their T20 crown, not least of all the selection of their best eleven, and the ideal batting order. Dhoni's decision to bat at number 3 probably cost his side big tonight, a level head towards the end of the innings would have probably seen India home in a canter.

Both sides have a couple of big warm-up games coming up - New Zealand square-off against traditional rivals Australia on Tuesday, while India meet their neighbours Pakistan in a match more likely to be viewed across the world than perhaps any game the tournament draw could offer on Wednesday.

 

Mini Scorecard:
New Zealand 170/7 (20 overs)
Taylor 41 Ishant Sharma 4-25

India 161/6 (20 overs)
Raina 45 Vettori 3-24

Photo Copyright: ICC