Trent Boult took four wickets as New Zealand went on to clobber tournament favourites India by six wickets in their warm-up outing at the London Oval yesterday with just under a week left for the commencement of the World Cup.
Boult, who removed openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan for just two runs each to leave India 10 for two, finished with figures of four for 33. India managed to make just 179 runs which New Zealand reached inside 38 overs for the loss of four wickets.
Ravindra Jadeja (54) and Hardik Pandya (30) were the only India batsmen to make it past 19.
India captain Virat Kohli fell for 18 to medium-pacer Colin de Grandhomme when the star batsman was clean bowled by a ball that cut back in off the seam as he aimed towards midwicket.
Kohli’s men were in danger of being dismissed for under a hundred when MS Dhoni, the captain of the India side that won the 2011 World Cup, fell to Southee to leave his team on 91 for seven.
But Jadeja’s 50 ball innings, featuring six fours and two sixes, helped rally the tail.
India, however, were still bowled out with nearly 10 overs of their innings remaining, with James Neesham taking three for 26. New Zealand lost the wickets of Martin Guptil and Colin Munro cheaply but Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor steadied the ship.