Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan fight for India A after Jaiswal and Rahul fail again

Devdutt Padikkal and B Sai Sudharsan led India A's fightback in the first four-day match against New Zealand A in Lincoln, but the home side were still in the driver's seat, having taken a 204-run first-innings lead and then removed openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal quickly. When play ended on the second day, India A were 98 behind, with Padikkal on 56 and Sai Sudharsan on 39.

Their third-wicket stand was worth 96 - scored over 188 balls - at stumps after New Zealand A had reduced India A to 10 for 2. That meant Jaiswal and Rahul, expected to open in the Test series that will start in the third week of November, with little by way of time in the middle. Jaiswal has scores 17 and 5 in this game and Rahul 0 and 4. They faced a total of 77 balls in Lincoln, 45 of them by Jaiswal in the first innings.

But Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan, who could be competing for the No. 3 spot in the Tests, made a solid case for themselves. Both played responsibly after coming together in the fifth over when Rahul was dismissed hit-wicket trying to push the ball away as it trickled towards the stumps off the inside edge.

Padikkal did get a life during his 89-ball stay when, not long after he had walked in, he nicked Kristian Clarke, but it was put down by Rhys Mariu at second slip. For Sai Sudharsan, it has been a chanceless 104-ball innings so far.

They had resumed on their overnight score of 135 for 3, already ahead by 22 runs, but Anshul Kamboj struck thrice to reduce them to 218 for 7, removing Curtis Heaphy (44), Matthew Boyce (17) and Simon Keene (4).

Foxcroft, whose solitary Test for New Zealand came in 2023, got to his 17th first-class fifty during his 33-run eighth-wicket stand with Clarke. Washington Sundar trapped Foxcroft for 51 in the 77th over, and three overs later, New Zealand A went to drinks eight down with a lead of 149.

Clarke switched gears around after the break. After scoring just nine runs off his first 33 balls, he smashed 33 runs from his next 34 deliveries. He flayed boundaries off the quicks, in the main, to push New Zealand A further ahead, even as Auqib Nabi dismissed Fraser Sheat for 7 for his third wicket. But Clarke dominated his last-wicket stand with Zak Gibson, launching a six each off Akash Deep and Kamboj.

Akash Deep ended India A's frustration when he bowled Clarke for 42. But by then, New Zealand A had a big advantage, helped by the 46 extras India A conceded in 89.3 overs.