Shardul Thakur's spell places India on top after Day 1 of the 2nd unofficial Test

The last unofficial Test match between India A and New Zealand A started off in favour of the hosts as the Indian bowlers continued to torment the Kiwi batsmen, as they did in the first Test match. New Zealand skipper, Henry Nicholas won the toss and decided to bat first on a wicket which was expected to assist the batsmen at the start. However, the plan didn’t go in their favour as they lost 3 wickets for mere 34 runs.

The partnership between Jeet Raval and Colin Munro ensured their team got past 100 runs before Raval was sent back to the pavilion by Shardul Thakur. New Zealand showed a shade of their performance in the first ‘Test’ as the players were not able to read the wrist spin and they eventually had to pay the price.

India A in a solid position

There were barely any moment for the BlackCaps as they registered 211 runs on the first day of the second ‘unofficial’ Test match helping India A dominate the five-day game from the very beginning. For India, it was Shardul Thakur who blew away New Zealand openers and registered figures of 3 for 34 runs in his quota of 12 overs. Proving their dominance yet again, leg-spinner Karn Sharma and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem ran through the middle order.

After succumbing to a bout of fever, Rishabh Pant had to make way for his counterpart Parthiv Patel, who was added to the playing XI. Other than Rishabh Pant, Sudeep Chatterjee, Hanuma Vihari, Mohammad Siraj had to sit out.

At stumps, India A were 33 for 1, after Ravikumar Samarth was sent back by Seth Rance via a beautiful in-swing delivery. His dismissal let Shreyas Iyer join Priyank Panchal who remained the overnight batsmen. The hosts will be expecting Panchal and Iyer to give them a solid start of Day 2 and let India A repeat their form from the first Test and clinch the series 2-0.

Brief Scores:

New Zealand 1st Innings: 211 (Colin Munro 65, Jeet Raval 48, Shardul Thakur 3/34, Karn Sharma 3/49, Shahbaz Nadeem 2/41).

India 1st Innings: 33/1 (Shreyas Iyer 18*, Priyank Panchal 14*).