Mohammed Siraj sends stumps flying with lethal deliveries against New Zealand A

India A cricketers were on the top of their game against their New Zealand counterparts as they won the first unofficial ODI of the three-match series at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval on Wednesday. After the bowlers ripped apart the home team’s batting order, the batsmen completed the task with ease.

In-form batsman Prithvi Shaw, who had smashed 150 runs off 100 balls in the second warm-up game against New Zealand, was on song again, while Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav also had a fun time out at the middle with their willows.

However, it was the bowlers who did the hard work in the first innings for the batsmen to enjoy a chilled outing. Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he returned with a figure of 3/33 in his 6.3 overs. Khaleel Ahmed and Axar Patel contributed with two wickets each, while Vijay Shankar and Rahul Chahap with a wicket apiece.

Mohammed Siraj bowled an impressive spell against New Zealand A

Meanwhile, Siraj was on fire as he literally rattled the Kiwi batsmen’s stumps all over. Two of his three wickets saw the stumps flying into the sky. His second wicket, which sent Ajaz Patel packing, had the middle stumps rolling over by a fiery delivery. His third and the last wicket of the local team’s innings also witnessed a similar scene. But instead of the middle-stick, it was the off-stump which went into the air for Jacob Duffy to walk towards the pavilion.

Chasing 231, India A were off to a great start as Shaw (48 off 35 balls) and Mayank Agarwal (29 off 29) added 79 runs. But two quick wickets had cut their momentum before Indian skipper Shubman Gill (30 off 35) and Samson (39 off 21) made a partnership of 66 runs for the third wicket helped India take the upper hand again.

Other than Shaw and Samson, all the Indian batsmen contributed with substantial efforts with the bat, while Suryakumar, to mention, showed a great power-hitting form ahead of the IPL. He scored a fiery 35 off 19 balls.

Following, lower-order batsmen Krunal Pandya and Vijay Shankar made sure that India A don’t suffer any further casualties and win the game by 5 wickets with more than 20 overs to spare. On being asked to bat first, most of the Blackcaps batsmen got a start but failed to capitalise and gave India wickets in regular intervals. Opener Rachin Ravindra and captain Tom Bruce were the highest scorers with 49 and 47 respectively.

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