VISAKHAPATNAM (India), Sept 26: New Zealand got off to a rainy start to their tour of India with just 10 overs completed on the first day of their three-day opening match against an Indian Board President’s XI on Friday.

Wet ground caused by rain in the eastern coastal city in the last two days washed out the first two sessions and more showers forced play to be called off early.

The home team, who won the toss and chose to bat, were 23 without loss from the 10.1 overs possible with captain Virender Sehwag and Akash Chopra both on nine runs.

Young New Zealand pacemen Ian Butler and Michael Mason found little to work with on a firm batting pitch.

New Zealand play another three-day game against an India A side in Rajkot from Oct 2 before the two Tests in Ahmedabad (Oct 8-12) and Mohali (Oct 16-20).

Scoreboard

Board President’s XI (1st innings):

Akash Chopra not out 9

Virender Sehwag not out 9

Extras (nb-5) 5

Total (for no wicket, 10.1 overs) 23

To bat: Shiv Sundar Das, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Sridharan Sriram, Ajay Ratra, Amit Mishra, Ramesh Powar, Amit Bhandari, Siddharth Trivedi.

Bowling (to date): Ian Butler 5-0-13-0 (nb-4), Michael Mason 3.1-1-9-0 (nb-1), Scott Styris 2-1-1-0

NEW ZEALAND: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Nathan Astle, Craig McMillan, Lou Vincent, Scott Styris, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori, Paul Wiseman, Ian Butler, Michael Mason.—Reuters