New Zealand speedster Trent Boult heaped praise on young Prithvi Shaw, saying that the right-handed Mumbai batsman has a promising career ahead. Shaw gave glimpses of his immense talent, scoring 66 off 780 balls, to help Board President's XI comfortably beat New Zealand by 30 runs in their opening warm-up game.
"I heard he was 17, I couldn't quite believe it. He played very nicely. I think the ball swung around nicely at the start, and it didn't seem to trouble him.
"He's probably one of many who has a promising career ahead of him if all things go well. But very impressed with the first look," said Boult.
The Kiwi fast bowler, who ended with a five-wicket haul, said it was disappointing not to win the match.
"It's satisfying to re-familiarise ourselves with the conditions here. It was very hot out there this afternoon, but it's disappointing to not come away with a win.
"Good opportunities to try different tactics in terms of a bowling plan. To come here and try bowl good line and length against some of the best players in the world is probably not the best recipe for getting them out. Just trying few things. They negated it very nicely, played a few shots," said Boult.
He admitted that it wasn't too successful for his team.
"A lot of the credit goes to their openers for getting the platform for the rest. They put a very challenging total on the board."
Boult said it was important to take wickets at the top of the innings.
"If you can get two or three down inside the first powerplay, it can really put a lot of pressure on the opposition and set up the game. But they played nicely.
"The ball did what we wanted to do in terms of swing and got line and length, but they kept it out easily. So, coming back and taking wickets in clumps is important for us. Today, it worked in parts and not in some," he explained.
Boult said the room for error is very small while playing against quality teams.
"It's a big challenge for us to step up and hopefully upset a side that's in very, very good form. You need to be accurate everywhere, the room for error is very small. The batsmen are very talented, they like to hit boundaries and they are able to hit boundaries of your best balls.
"So the accuracy has to be there, the fitness has to be there to keep delivering."
Stating that he looks to swing the ball at the start of the innings, Boult said, " I look to be as aggressive as I can in the later spells. ODI cricket is very challenging, generally offering very flat surface and not much from the bowling point of view. The accuracy is where I feel I can offer the most.
"I feel I can hit Yorkers, put dots in between and build up pressure like that. We have got a good bowling attack, an experienced attack, a group that has travelled here before. In IPL, we've had exposure to these conditions before."
Meanwhile, leggie Karn Sharma, who ended with figures of one for 46, said for him the team winning was more important.
"I am bowling good and also getting wickets. It is important that the team is winning," Sharma, who played an ODI for India last in 2014, said.
He played a Test for India against Australia in 2014 at Adelaide and the bowler feels he has learnt from his mistakes.
"Playing the Adelaide Test is a thing of the past. One learns from the mistakes and I tried to work on my bowling and bring in variety. In the last two years. I have changed a lot (as a bowler) and spoke to (Narendra) Hirwani sir and other coaches," the 29-year-old Vidarbha player added.
According to Sharma, there is a change in his mindset.
"My bowling is the same, but there is a difference in the mindset. I spoke to coaches on how I can be better in international matches and worked on those aspects. I am working with Hiru (Hirwani) Sir in NCA and that is helping me. Hirwani Sir spoke about mindset and how to play with the batsman's mind and that is very important," he added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand all-rounder Tom Astle, who sustained a groin injury, will be assessed in the next 24 hours.
(With PTI Inputs)
