The New Zealand men’s cricket team traded nets for fairways prior to the start of their tour, appearing at a golf day at Willingdon Sports Club, Mumbai, as part of their ongoing white-ball tour of India.
A strong player group featured ODI captain Michael Bracewell, alongside Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Kyle Jamieson, Henry Nicholls and others, with assistant coaches Luke Ronchi and Jacob Oram also in attendance. The tournament saw the who’s who of the Mumbai corporate world hosted by Amit Sinha, Managing Director, Mahindra Lifespaces in action and a day of international relationship building using sport .
The game was played over 9 holes in the four man scramble format with different sets of prizes for players playing the Back 9 holes (10 to 18) and different prizes for those groups playing Holes 1 to 9. As well as separate contests for longest drive and closest to pin.
A lively evening with well known cricket show host Jatin Sapru doing a live chat with members of the NZ squad and a lively band made the lavish after party well attended and memorable.
The event was the brainchild of TCM Sports, a long-standing commercial partner of New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and marketed and managed by RN Sports Marketing, forming part of NZC’s wider effort to build deeper engagement in India, a market viewed as central to its long-term commercial strategy. Golf became the meeting point for informal interaction between team members and business stakeholders, extending connections beyond match venues.
NZC’s marketing head Glenn Critchley and New Zealand’s High Commissioner to India, Patrick Rata, were also present, underlining the broader significance of the gathering. An evening session followed, featuring player and coach conversations on careers, leadership and team culture, before closing with a private dinner.
The outing came days before New Zealand began their on-field campaign, opening their India tour with the first ODI in Vadodara on January 11 — refreshed, connected, and briefly off the cricket clock.
On Course Contest winners:
Hole 3 – Straightest drive – Jehan Sethna – 7ft 1inch
Hole 6 – Closest to pin – Akshay Kilachand – 5ft
Hole 11 – Straightest drive – Tejaswi Sabharwal – 2 inches
Hole 16 – Closest to pin – Anosh Shroff – 32ft
| Front 9 – Runner Up Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Handicap | Gross Score | Nett Score |
| Tarun Rai | 3.05 | 28 | 24.95 |
| Vivek Bajpeyi | |||
| Srinivasan N | |||
| Avinash Bhide | |||
| Front 9 – Winning Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Handicap | Gross Score | Nett Score |
| Abhijit Gulanikar | 2.8 | 27 | 24.2 |
| Sudhir Jain | |||
| Sandeep Agarwal | |||
| Daryl Mitchell | |||
| Back 9 – Runner Up Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Handicap | Gross Score | Nett Score |
| Behram Gamadia | 3.82 | 30 | 26.17 |
| Aditya Maheshwari | |||
| Vishal Jhunjhunwala | |||
| Back 9 – Winning Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Handicap | Gross Score | Nett Score |
| Shireesh Khare | 3.75 | 27 | 23.25 |
| Shiv Agarwal | |||
| Sanjay Mukherjee | |||
| Adithya Ashok | |||
