Christchurch: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yash Rathod scored counter-attacking centuries on the final day as India A fought back to draw the second unofficial Test against New Zealand A at Hagley Oval on Tuesday, turning a difficult position into a statement of intent ahead of the senior Test series later this month.
India A began day four at 32 for no loss in their second innings, still 46 runs behind after New Zealand A had been bowled out for 424 in their first innings to take a 78-run lead. By the time the captains shook hands, India A had reached 282 for 2 in 52.4 overs — a lead of 204 — with Jaiswal unbeaten on 155 and Rathod unbeaten on 100.
The pair came together with India A at 35 for 2, after Devdutt Padikkal had fallen for a duck, and they never looked back. Their unbroken 247-run partnership for the third wicket came off just 245 balls, a remarkable rate for a fourth-day rearguard, and it put India A firmly in control. The match was called off four balls after tea, once Rathod had completed his century, with both teams agreeing to a draw.
For Jaiswal, the innings could hardly have been better timed. The left-hander had managed scores of 17, 5 and 0 in his previous three innings on the tour, and he was dismissed for a four-ball duck in the first innings of this match. He answered in emphatic fashion, reaching his century with a six over cow corner off Dean Foxcroft and celebrating with a flying kiss towards the Indian team’s dugout, before finishing on 155 not out off 162 balls, with 15 fours and five sixes.
Rathod, who had scored 44 not out and 66 in the first unofficial Test, made amends for missing out in the first innings here with a composed unbeaten 100 off 122 balls, including nine fours. It was his 11th first-class century, and India A waited for him to reach the milestone before bringing the match to an end.
More than 90 minutes of play were lost to rain on the final day, but it did not slow the pair down once they were set. Jaiswal brought up his hundred off just 119 balls, and the partnership passed 200 soon after, as New Zealand A’s bowlers ran out of answers on a pitch that offered little late assistance.
The draw keeps the three-match series level at 0-0, with the first unofficial Test in Lincoln also drawn. New Zealand A’s first-innings total had been built on Matthew Boyle’s 110 and Dean Foxcroft’s 93, before the lower order — Fraser Sheat (40), Jarrod McKay (33) and the unbeaten Jayden Lennox (32) — stretched the lead to 78. Mukesh Kumar took five for 87 and Mohammed Siraj four for 118 for India A, with Washington Sundar claiming the remaining wicket.
For Jaiswal, who is set to open for the senior side in the two-Test series against New Zealand starting in Wellington on November 19, the innings is a timely return to form. The third and final unofficial Test will be played at Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln from November 7, giving both sides one more red-ball hit-out before the senior series begins.
