The New Zealand tour of India is about to kick-off with a warm-up game against the current Ranji trophy champions, Mumbai (who won their 41st Ranji title in February this year). The warm-up match will take place in New Delhi on the 16th of September at the iconic Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
The pitch that has been prepared for this three-day warm-up match will most likely have some considerable amount of grass covering on it. The green cover will be a huge advantage for the bowlers where the ball might turn and bounce low, making it harder for the batsmen to settle down and score big runs.
The Kiwis have come prepared for this tour with leg-spinner Ish Sodhi, off-spinner Mark Craig and the emerging left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner in the squad. The Black Caps will be well aware of the spin treatment that the South Africans received during their recent tour to India from the Indian spinners that resulted in a 3-0 whitewash defeat for the Proteas.
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New Zealand spinners (Sodhi, Craig, and Santner) were noticed practising in the nets for a considerable amount of time against the Kiwi batsmen. Skipper Kane Williamson could also bowl some off-spinners if required for his team and that will certainly be a huge boost to their already impressive bowling attack that consists of world-class pace bowlers such as Tim Southee and Trent Boult.
Indian-born New Zealand player Ish Sodhi has already played 13 Test matches for the Black Caps and has picked up 35 wickets with best figures of 7/79. The 23-year-old leggie will be key to New Zealand’s prospects of a positive result in the upcoming Test series against India. This will also be some good exposure for the young Mumbai players before the start of their 2016/17 domestic season.
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The Mumbai domestic cricket team could definitely pose a good challenge to the Black Caps in the warm-up game and the New Zealand players will be looking to make the most of the situation. The Mumbai team consists of talented batsmen in the form of Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Aditya Tare and spinners like Iqbal Abdulla, Vishal Dabholkar, and Harmeet Singh.
New Zealand, in particular, will be looking to give their spinners some exposure on this Kotla wicket. The first of the three-match test series between India and New Zealand will take place on the 22nd of September at the Green Park in Kanpur.
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