New Zealand A vs India A: 1st unofficial Test, Day 3, Review- Hosts counter fire with fire

Albeit Hamish Rutherford scored a century on the second day, India A were still ahead in the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Mount Maunganui for the reason that they were able to post a humungous score on the board. However, the home team made sure that they get close to India’s score. At the close of play, the visitors have a lead of 44 runs with all their wickets in hand.

Kiwis lost regular wickets

After the Kiwis ended the second day at 176 for the loss of one wicket, they didn’t get off to the best of starts as Mohammed Siraj nipped out Tim Seifert in the 59th over. Deepak Chahar delivered the body blow, dismissing Rutherford, who notched 114 runs from 181 deliveries with 17 boundaries and a six. Soon after, the right-arm seamer nipped out Rachin Ravindra in the 64th over.

Glenn Phillips fell prey to Navdeep Saini and all of a sudden, the hosts lost half their side with a massive trail of 257 ahead of them. The Indians were cock-a-hoop about how they started the second day, especially after how the New Zealand A batters made them work hard. Wicketkeeper Dean Cleaver and Doug Bracewell scripted a comeback with a stand of 65 runs from 25 overs.

Lower order stands tall  

The ominous-looking stand was eventually broken by Krishnappa Gowtham. Thereafter, Kyle Jamieson joined keeper Cleaver in the middle and both compiled another useful stand of 53 runs to frustrate the Indian bowlers. After Jamieson’s dismissal, Cleaver also perished, leaving the hosts in a tricky situation. Nevertheless, Seth Rance and Blair Tickner weren’t ready to drop the gun.

They put on 83 for the last wicket and remained not out as India A tried their hearts out to wrap things up. New Zealand declared with the score at 459/9 in 134 overs. Prithvi Shaw and Murali Vijay commenced proceedings for India A in the second innings and played out eight over without any hiccup, scoring 35 runs. Shaw scored 33 runs from 27 balls at a strike-rate of 126.92.

Brief Scores

India A: 467/8 dec in 122.1 overs; (Parthiv Patel 94, Hanuma Vihari 86; Blair Tickner 4/80, Rachin Ravindra 1/56)

New Zealand A: 458/9 in 134 overs; (Hamish Rutherford 114, Seth Rance 69*; Krishnappa Gowtham 3/107, Deepak Chahar 2/51)

India A: 35/0 in 8 overs; (Prithvi Shaw 33*, Murali Vijay 2*; Doug Bracewell 0/13, Kyle Jamieson 0/22)

India lead by 44 runs

Close of Play: Day 3

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