It will be another opportunity for the likes of Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Karun Nair to prove their mettle against an international team and boost their chances of making it to the Indian team.
After suffering a shock loss in the first practice match, New Zealand will be hoping to bounce back when they take on the Indian Board President's XI in the second and final warm-up game on Thursday.
A young Board President's XI side comprising the likes of Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Karun Nair easily defeated Kane Williamson's men by 30 runs in the opening warm-up game at the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.
It will be another opportunity for the talented youngsters to prove their mettle against an international team and boost their chances of making it to the Indian team.
In their first real test against spin in India, the Kiwi batsmen struggled against the likes of Shahbaz Nadeem and Karn Sharma in the opening practice game, an area which they are hoping to improve in the next warm-up match and get themselves in the right frame of mind before the first One-Day International, in Mumbai on October 22.
For the home team, Mumbai youngster Prithvi will again be centre of attraction for the manner in which he negotiated the prace trio of Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Adam Milne.
The 17-year-old, who stroked 66 from 80 balls and added 147 runs for the opening wicket with KL Rahul (68 from 75 balls), will be keen to play another big knock and impress the national selectors.
For Rahul, who has been dropped for the New Zealand ODIs, it is a good opportunity to get some runs and get his confidence back.
The Karnataka batsman, who has been batting in the middle order for India in limited overs cricket in the recent few months, returned to open the innings in the warm-up match. He made most of the opportunity as he smashed nine fours and a six during his 75-ball knock and also prove a point after being dropped for the forthcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand.
His Karnataka team-mate Nair, who has done precious little after his triple hundred against England in a Test match, impressed with an quickfire innings of 78 from 64 balls, laced with 12 fours to lift Board President's XI to a huge 295 for nine in their 50 overs.
In reply, New Zealand never really got going with the bat and were bowled out for 265 in 47.4 overs with Jaydev Unadkat and Shahbaz Nadeem picking up three wickets each.
Tom Latham, who batted in the middle order, top scored with 59 but none of the other batsmen were able to cross the half-century mark.
For New Zealand, the key will be as to how their batsmen deal with the Indian spinners Nadeem and Karn Sharma. A good performance with the bat in the second practice game will definitely boost their confidence going into the first ODI where will they face a much stiffer challenge in Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel, all of whom have been in good form recently.
They will want captain Kane Williamson to carry on and play a big innings after he fell for a brisk 47 in the first warm-up match.
The other batsman like Ross Taylor and Colin Munro, struggled in the middle overs and could hit just one boundary each despite spending considerable time at the wicket.
Also failure of flamboyant opener Martin Guptill would be a sign of worry for the Kiwi dug-out. Having the reputation of a world-class hitter, the Kiwi opener will be desperate to get some runs under his belt, which will boost his confidence ahead of the ODI series.
It would be rather interesting to see whether the Kiwis open with the struggling Munro again or bring Latham to his original position to start the innings with Guptill in the second warm-up game.
On the bowling front, Kiwi pacers Milne, Southee and Boult will look to get used to the humidity and the hot weather conditions.
A lot will depend on spinners Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner, who fared decently in the first game, but will be itching to play a major role with the ball in the second practice game.
Squads:
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Todd Astle, Trent Boult, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, George Worker.
Board President's XI team: Shreyas Iyer (captain), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Gurkeerat Mann, Prithvi Shaw, Shivam Chaudhary, Milind Kumar, Shahbaz Nadeem, Karn Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh Khan.
