India A reached a strong position on Day 1 of the second unofficial Test against New Zealand A. After a shaky start, Dhruv Jurel took control and finished unbeaten on 99. He got key partnerships with Manav Suthar and Akash Deep to help the team recover from 160/6 at stumps.
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 before the former fell to Jarrod McKay for 41.
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 this time and got out for 13. 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.
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. Brett Randell, who replaced Matt Fisher in the squad a couple of days ago, McKay and Jayden Lennox were also among the wickets. The first game of the three-match had ended in a draw last week after the visitors’ extraordinary fightback with the bat in their second innings.