From ( L-R) Michael Bracewell, Jacob Oram, and Luke Ronchi in a rapid-fire contest

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. 

Daryl Mitchell in action during the Closest to the Pin contest on course.

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.

Mitchell Hay was seen in action

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.

Patrick Rata, New Zealand High Commissioner to India, added a touch of diplomatic gravitas to the day
Bollywood personality Boney Kapoor and Lokesh Sharma, Managing Director of TCM Sports, shared a few words with the participants

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