Vijay Zol made his first-class debut memorable by scoring a chanceless century against New Zealand ‘A’, and with captain Abhishek Nayar also coming up with an unbeaten ton scored at a quicker pace, India ‘A’ made 388 for seven as the three-day match ended in a draw here on Friday.
The 18-year-old Zol, from Maharashtra, scored 110 (153b, 19x4) and Nayar made 102 not out (110b, 14x4,1x6) as the host batsmen had things easy on a flat wicket.
They were severe on the spinners after the medium-pacers made some impression early in the day.
Zol came in after the overnight pair of Jiwanjot Singh (48, 8x4) and Sarabjeet Ladda (15) had added 45 for the second wicket.
Good stands
The youngster played with a lot of confidence and pushed the score along through some good partnerships — 77 with Jiwanjot, 97 with Manpreet Juneja (43, 3x4,2x6) and 60 with Nayar.
Zol reached his century about 20 minutes before tea by sending spinner Todd Astle to the cover boundary.
The captain then went on to add 56 for the sixth wicket with C.M. Gautam.
Nayar, who raced to his first fifty off just 31 balls (9x4, 1x6), reached his century sending leg-spinner Ish Sodhi to the long-on fence.
The match was called off at that stage with 7.5 of the 15 mandatory overs completed.
Astle claimed three wickets while Sodhi picked up two. Doug Bracewell and Carl Cachopa got one each.
The teams next play a four-day match from September 2.
The scores: New Zealand ‘A’ 310 drew with India ‘A’ 388 for seven in 93.5 overs (Vijay Zol 110, Abhishek Nayar 102 not out, Jiwanjot Singh 48, Manpreet Juneja 43, Todd Astle three for 106).
