Dhruv Jurel and Devdutt Padikkal batted nicely as India A finished the opening day of the second unofficial four-day Test against New Zealand A on 291/7 at Christchurch on Saturday.
Jurel was unbeaten on 99 (155 balls, 11 fours and three sixes) along with Akash Deep (25) when the stumps were drawn.
After New Zealand A won the toss and put India A into bat, the visitors had a horrible start as Yashasvi Jaiswal fell off the fourth ball of the first over bowled by Fraser Sheat. Jaiswal (0) was trapped in front. Sai Sudharsan and No.3 Devdutt Padikkal then added 91 for the second wicket to bring the Indians back on track before the former fell to Jarrod McKay for 41 in the first over after lunch, edging to Kiwi keeper Mitchell Hay as he tried to punch an away going delivery.
Yash Rathod was promoted up the order after his 44 not out and 66 in the first game at No. 6 but he failed to impress at No.4 and got out for 13 as the left-hander feathered a lovely out-swinger to Hay behind the wicket. Padikkal (80 off 140 balls, 12 fours), Ravichandran Smaran (0) and Washington Sundar were the next batsmen to go in quick time. The Indians were reeling at 160/6 at the time of Sundar’s departure. Padikkal played on, while Smaran and Sundar were adjudged lbw. The trio were Sheat’s victims.
Under pressure, Jurel took control of the innings thereafter and got up nice partnerships for the seventh and eighth wickets: first, 62 runs with Manav Suthar (22) and then an unbeaten 69 with Akash Deep. At stumps, Jurel was just one short of a century.
Sheat was the pick of the New Zealand A bowlers with figures of 4/50. Central Stags’ Brett Randell, who replaced Matt Fisher for this game a couple of days ago, McKay and Jayden Lennox were also among the wickets. The first game of the three-match series had ended in a draw last week after the visitors’ extraordinary fightback with the bat in their second innings.