India A got off to a solid start on day one of the first unofficial four-day Test as visitors New Zealand collapsed from 72 for no loss to be bundled out 147 all out at Vijayawada on Saturday, PTI reported.
Opting to bat, New Zealand A were sitting pretty with both the openers George Worker (33) and Jeet Raval (34) looking solid, but the introduction of spinners triggered a slide, from which the Black Caps could never recover. From 72/0, the visitors lost 10 wickets for the addition of just 75 runs. Tim Seifar remained unbeaten on 35, as his team was dismissed in 63 overs at the ACA Cricket Ground.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem (4/39) and leg-spinner Karn Sharma (4/58) shared eight wickets between them in a very impressive display of spin bowling. In reply, India A were comfortably placed at 71/2 when the stumps were drawn. India A now trail by 76 runs with eight wickets in hand.
Opener Ravikumar Samarth was batting on 38, while captain Karun Nair was unbeaten on seven at the close of play. Besides Sharma and Nadeem, Mohammed Siraj (2/30) was the other wicket-taker.
Brief scores:
- New Zealand A 147 (Tim Seifar 35*, Jeet Raval 34; Shahbaz Nadeem (4/39, Karn Sharma 4/58) lead India A 71/2 (Ravikumar Samarth 38*; Ish Sodhi 2/11) by 76 runs.
