Ankit Bawne leads India A's powerful batting effort

India A bowlers put up a commendable effort on the first day to restrict the New Zealand A for just 211 runs in the first innings. Today the Indian team demanded their batsmen to do well to take advantage of the opportunity created by the bowlers. India A batted brilliantly today with Ankit Bawne scoring a century and leading the charge as the home team finished the day at 360/4.

16th first-class century

India A resumed their innings on the overnight score of 33/1. Shreyas Iyer and Priyank Panchal built together a good second wicket partnership scoring 133 runs to put India in a good position. Iyer looked very fluent scoring 82 runs in just 79 balls. Panchal missed out on a half-century getting out for 46.

Thereafter Ankit Bawne and the captain Karun Nair came together and stitched a partnership of 64 runs. They relied on rotating the strike and thus never allowed pressure to mount. Karun Nair was eventually dismissed for 43 runs by Ish Sodhi.

Then Parthiv Patel joined Bawne at the crease and launched a counter-attack at the New Zealand A bowlers. The visitors looked helpless as the two scored 154 runs in just 28 overs at the crease. In the process, Bawne brought up his century, 16th of his first-class career. He ended the day unbeaten at 116, while his partner in crime Parthiv Patel was also undefeated on 56.

Bawne attack

He has hit 13 fours and 5 sixes in his innings and didn’t miss out on any chance to shift the pressure to the bowlers. Bawne reached his century in just 147 balls, while Patel reached his half-century off just 60 balls. Sodhi was the most successful bowler on the view today. He took 2 wickets but conceded 109 runs in just 19 overs as the Indian batsmen never allowed him to settle.

The Indians will try to get some quick runs on the Day 3 of the match to extend their lead while allowing their bowlers enough time to get the better of New Zealand A batsmen.