India A vs New Zealand A: Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan Steady Innings After Early Setbacks

Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan had some idea of fighting for India A on Sunday in the first unofficial Test against New Zealand A, but it was too late as KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal fell again for the low scores.

In the second innings, one expected Padikkal (56*) and Sudharsan (39*) to show a more solid performance on Day 2 and they did just that, with India A scoring 106/2 at stumps at the end of their first day on field, still 98 runs behind the hosts.

India A's innings began with Yashasvi and Rahul bowing out cheaply and the situation looked bad, but Padikkal and Sudharsan, one of whom is expected to represent India in the main Test series against New Zealand, held strong, withering the probing attacks and allowing India to finish the day two wickets down.

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The first wicket for India A in the second innings was Yashasvi who was caught by a peach of a delivery. There didn't seem to be much he could do about Simon Keene's snorter.

The left-hander attempted to move his body away from the line, but the short ball flipped back in his direction, into his mitt and then towards the home plate. In the second innings Jaiswal managed to stop the run-scoring game with 5 runs, following which he had not found a way to score runs in the previous game.

Jaiswal could have got done a great delivery that one can't say the same about his opening partner KL Rahul. The right-hander as ever was a first to force a Fraser Sheat delivery into the front foot, and he was able to get a nothing delivery outside off again.

The ball bounced back and Rahul did his best to prevent the ball from reaching him again. The replays then revealed that it was Rahul's bat which pushed the bails off the stumps and not the ball rolling back on to the stumps, meaning that Rahul was hit wicket and walked off after scoring 4 off 15 balls.

Then, Padikkal and Sudharsan joined forces at the crease and played a blend of caution and aggression, and moved the scoreboard. Padikkal, who had two centuries in his previous Test series against Sri Lanka, was the more confident of the two. Sudharsan was wrapped on the pads quite a bit but he exhibited that stomach to get it out of the way and not throw his wicket away.

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What happened in New Zealand A's innings?

Starting Day 2 at 135/3, New Zealand scored 24 more runs before they lost their fourth wicket, in the form of Curtis Heaphy (44). Anshul Kamboj picked up the first wicket of the day for India A.

Subsequently, the visitors had a good deal of luck to strike consistently, but once again the "tail" proved to be India's weakness. From being 218/7 at one stage, New Zealand A got to 317 as the final three wickets added 99 more runs to the total, extending the hosts' lead to 204 runs.

Dean Foxcroft (51), Kristian Clarke (42) and Mitchell Hay (24) were of great service as New Zealand A further consolidated their lead in the first unofficial Test. Kamboj and Auqib Nabi had the best of two spins in India A with each collecting three wickets.

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