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Redmond, Guptill make merry

Karthik Krishnaswamy

New Zealand ‘A’ ends first day at 270 for three

— Photo: K. Pichumani

IN FULL FLOW: Aaron Redmond’s century helped New Zealand ‘A’ to a strong position at the end of day one.

Chennai: New Zealand ‘A’ openers Aaron Redmond and Martin Guptill batted through two sessions at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday, accentuating with each swish of their bats the shoulder droop of India ‘A’s fieldsmen.

Redmond batted for just over five hours in making New Zealand ‘A’s first century of the series. Guptill, who replaced Neil Broom in the eleven, fell just after tea for 80. Pushing on from their 190-run stand, New Zealand ‘A’ ended day one of the second four-day match at 270 for three.

Redmond had threatened big scores in both innings of the first match before falling to airy shots each time. Here, while continuing to drive powerfully in front of the wicket, he didn’t hit a ball in the air until the shot that got him his hundred. Having gone from 92 to 96 with a sweep off left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, he pulled the next ball beyond the midwicket fence to prompt the doffing of helmet and raising of bat.

Aggressive

Guptill was initially the more aggressive of the openers, marking first change Pradeep Sangwan’s first over of the series with a slash over gully and a drive past the left-armer.

Twenty minutes after tea, Guptill finally fell to Amit Mishra, finding Cheteshwar Pujara at deep midwicket after skipping down the track. In Mishra’s next over, Peter Fulton edged a sharp leg break, bowled from around the wicket, to keeper Wriddhiman Saha.

Mishra had threatened this mode of dismissal a couple of times before tea as well, beating Guptill and getting Redmond to edge between keeper and first slip with flighted leg breaks pitched in line with the stumps. That line, however, wasn’t encouraged by the field Raina set, with only cover and mid-off, apart from the slip, on the off side, and thus most of his bowling targeted the pads.

Until Redmond missed his line with a tired shot at 105, R.P. Singh had bowled 15 overs without creating any impression on the batsmen.

The scores:

New Zealand ‘A’ – 1st innings: A. Redmond b R.P. Singh 105, M. Guptill c Pujara b Mishra 80, P. Fulton c Saha b Mishra 5, G. Hay (batting) 44, J. Marshall (batting) 21; Extras (b-3, lb-7, nb-4, w-1): 15; Total (for three wickets in 90 overs) 270.

Fall of wickets: 1-190, 2-195, 3-229.

India ‘A’ bowling: R.P. Singh 17-3-57-1, Dinda 16-3-39-0, Sangwan 12-2-48-0, Mishra 23-8-62-2, Jadeja 16-6-40-0, Raina 6-1-14-0.

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