Dravid leads; Rain dishearteNZ India

India made four changes to their playing eleven – Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Mongia and Amit Mishra made way for Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid (who was leading the team, and chose to bat on winning the toss) and Anil Kumble.

New Zealand made a couple of changes to the eleven that last played the Indians – Nathan Astle and Shane Bond made way for Lou Vincent and Paul Hitchcock.

Virender Sehwag, whose 29-ball innings included five boundaries and the only six of the innings*, scored 31. Nine overs into the match, Chris Cairns broke the 53-run partnership.

Tendulkar, whose 66-ball innings included five boundaries, scored 48. He was unbeaten.

Laxman, whose 23-ball innings included five boundaries, scored 25. Thirty-two balls later, he was caught by the substitute, Kyle Mills. Scott Styris broke the 25-run stand.

Dravid, who faced V(ettor)I balls, scored four. Nine balls later, he was caught by Styris. Daniel broke the five-run stand. Yuvraj Singh, whose 38-ball innings included four boundaries, scored 29. He was unbeaten.

New Zealand conceded four extras. India scored 141 for the loss of three wickets off 26.5 overs. Chris Harris bowled 2.5 wicketless overs, conceding 11. Hitchcock bowled three wicketless overs, conceding 17.

Daryl Tuffey, who bowled four wicketless overs, conceded 26. Jacob Oram, who bowled half-a-dozen wicketless overs, conceded 31.

Cairns, who bowled three overs, conceded 16. He picked up a wicket. Vettori and Styris bowled four wicketless overs apiece. While the former conceded 21, the latter conceded 19.

(*Note: There was no result, as rain stopped play.)