Kohli, Shami star in wet warm-up win

An unbeaten half-century from Virat Kohli and a damaging spell from fast bowler Mohammad Shami set up a convincing, rain-affected 45-run victory for India in their Champions Trophy warm-up against New Zealand on Sunday.

The Black Caps batted first at The Oval but were bowled out for 189 in 39 overs, with bright knocks from Luke Ronchi and Jimmy Neesham providing the main positives for New Zealand, who will be Australia’s first opponents when the tournament proper gets underway later this week.

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Ronchi top scored with a 63-ball 66 while Neesham was not out 46 at the end, putting on 23 for the last wicket with Trent Boult.

Martin Guptill and Ronchi took the Indians on up front early, piling on 20 runs in the first two overs.

Guptill fell for nine early in the third over, and although Ronchi kept the run rate ticking over, he received little support.

Skipper Kane Williamson and Neil Broom fell to consecutive deliveries from Mohammed Shami, and only Corey Anderson (13) and Mitchell Santner (12) managed double figures before Neesham's run-a-ball knock ended the Kiwi innings on a positive note.

Shami finished with 3-47 from his eight overs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar wrapped up the Kiwi innings, with 3-28. 

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It was never going to be enough to hold off the Indian batsmen, who reached 129-3 off 26 overs before the rain came. Captain Virat Kohli was not out 52.

Under the Duckworth-Lewis system India's target was 84 after 26 overs.

It had been satisfying to put early pressure on the Indian bowlers, Ronchi said, although he acknowledged it was an approach which didn't always pay off.

"To be aggressive, that's my natural way of batting," he said.

"If I can take that aggressive approach and it gets us off to a flier, then brilliant.

"But there's also the chance of me getting out early, so hopefully it comes off but if it doesn't, I guess that's my role and people understand."

New Zealand's next warm-up match is against Sri Lanka in Birmingham on Tuesday before their opening Champions Trophy match against Australia, also in Birmingham, on Friday.

Neesham said the Kiwis would be looking for noticeable improvement against Sri Lanka.

"We'll look to develop a few of those things that didn't go so well today," he said.

"It'll just be one of those things where it takes a game or two to click back into how things were.

"We're pretty confident that come that first game against Australia we'll be firing again."

Champions Trophy 2017 Guide

Squads: Every Champions Trophy squad named so far

Group A: Australia, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh.

Group B: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.

Schedule

Warm-up matches

26 May – Australia v Sri Lanka, The Oval

27 May – Bangladesh v Pakistan, Edgbaston

28 May – India v New Zealand, The Oval

29 May – Australia v Pakistan, Edgbaston

30 May – New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Edgbaston

30 May – Bangladesh vs India, The Oval

Tournament

1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (Day)

2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (D)

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)

19 June – Reserve day (D)