The spin duo of leggie Karn Sharma and left-armer Shahbaz Nadeem bowled India-A to an innings-and-26-run win over New Zealand-A in the four-day second ‘Test’ at the Mulapadu Cricket Complex near here on Tuesday.
Henry Nicholls played a captain’s knock but he turned out to be the lone warrior as the others failed to rise to the occasion and showed no inclination of staying put at the crease to tackle the spinners.
Resuming at 104 for one, the New Zealanders looked good when opener Jeet Raval and Nicholls put on 105 runs for the second wicket before the former was trapped lbw while trying to play a half-hearted pull off left-arm spinner Nadeem in the 12th over of the day.
Even at lunch the visitors were sitting pretty at 167 for three in 65 overs with Nicholls still going strong and a draw on the cards. But a collapse after the break saw them lose the last seven wickets for just 43 runs.
That was the phase when both Karn and Nadeem bowled in tandem and more importantly a much better, teasing line and length.
Nicholls failed to resist the temptation to go for the big shot off Karn when on 94 and holed out in the deep which hastened the end of the Kiwi innings.
Karn returned a five-wicket haul and Nadeem, a trier every time he is given a chance to showcase his mettle, picked up four wickets to share the spoils.
With this win, India-A swept the two-match series and the two teams will next play a five-match one-day series in Visakhapatnam from October 6.
National cricket selection committee chairman M.S.K Prasad, who watched the last two days of action, lauded the India-A performance and felt it was a reminder of the kind of bench strength available. “Hats off to Rahul (Dravid) for shaping the destiny of this young talent so well,” he said, referring to the chief coach.
The scores:
New Zealand-A — 1st innings: 211
India-A — 1st innings: 447.
New Zealand-A — 2nd innings: Jeet Raval lbw b Nadeem 47, George Worker lbw b Nadeem 6, Henry Nicholls c Nadeem b Karn 94, Will Young c Karun b Karn 14, Colin Munro lbw b Karn 13, Tom Bruce c Parthiv b Shardul 0, Tim Seifert b Nadeem 9, Scot Kuggeleijn b Nadeem 7, Ish Sodhi c Parthiv b Karn 0, Lockie Ferguson c Bawne b Karn 6, Seth Rance (not out) 6; Extras (lb-3, nb-4, w-1): 8; Total (in 79.3 overs): 210.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-124, 3-158, 4-175, 5-176, 6-186, 7-190, 8-198, 9-200.
India-A bowling: Shardul 13-5-34-1, Rajpoot 8-2-25-0, Saini 9-4-16-0, Nadeem 26-9-41-4, Karn 20.3-2-78-5, Karun 3-0-13-0.
India-A won by an innings and 26 runs
