Mumbai earns a satisfying draw against the New Zealanders

Ranji Champions Mumbai put up a highly satisfying bowling performance to bowl out New Zealanders for just 235 to end the three-day practice match as a draw. Luke Ronchi (107), who did not bat in the first innings, struck a fine 107 on the final day but the rest of the batsmen could contribute well.

Resuming to batt on day three, Mumbai added 33 runs to their overnight score of 431 and declared their innings on 464/8. Siddesh Lad joined Kaustub Pawar and Surya Kumar Yadav in the list of centurions of the match with his unbeaten century.

New Zealanders chose to change their batting plans a bit by sending Luke Ronchi as the opener. Ronchi, who missed out batting in the first innings, made full use of the opportunity and batted brilliantly.

However, Ronchi lacked support from the other end as the wickets fell in heaps without any stoppage. This can particularly not be considered as a disaster as skipper Williamson chose to send in his bowlers ahead of the regular batsmen for some batting practice.

Left-arm spinner Vishal Dabholkar was the first to strike, snapping Martin Guptill for a duck in the just the second over of the match. The bowling attack comprising of Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, and Trent Boult then lined up one by one to bat.

Unfortunately, they could add any significant amount of runs to the scoreboard. The positive factor, however, was that these bowlers spent a good amount of time at the crease before departing. Williamson would have certainly hoped for this when sending them to bat early.

While all these wickets kept falling at regular intervals, Ronchi batted in a counter aggressive fashion to add runs from one end and reach his century. But, unfortunately, he could not go further than 107 as he lost his wicket in the 40th over after getting stumped off the bowling of Valsangkar.

The New Zealanders innings folded shortly after Watling departed for a well-compiled 43 and Latham chose to retire at the score of 25.

Brief Scores:

1st Innings

New Zealanders: 324/7d (Tom Latham 55; B Sandhu 2/21)

Mumbai: 464/8d (Surya Kumar Yadav 103, Kaustub Pawar 100; Ish Sodhi 2/132)

2nd Innings

New Zealanders: 235 all out (Luke Ronchi 107; Parikshit Valsangkar 3/41)