Mount Maunganui (New Zealand): Senior pros Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane were dismissed cheaply but young guns Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari warmed up nicely for the Australia Test series with half-centuries for India ‘A’ against New Zealand ‘A’ in the first unofficial ‘Test’.
At stumps on the opening day, India ‘A’ scored 340 for five with Australia bound opener Shaw (62 runs off 88 balls), middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari (86 runs off 150 balls) and comeback man Parthiv Patel (79 not out off 111 balls) utilised the opportunity to the fullest.
However opener Vijay (28 runs off 64 balls) and Test vie-captain Rahane (12 runs off 19 balls) found their defences breached by Blair Tickner and Doug Bracewell respectively. In-form Vihari was dismissed in the last ball of the day.Vihari hit eight boundaries while Patel has so far found the fence 10 times. Also scoring a half-century was Mayank Agarwal (65), who came in at No 3. After the visitors opted to bat first, India A were given a fine start by Shaw and Vijay.
The Mumbaikar then added exactly 50 runs for the second wicket with Agarwal, before he was dismissed by slow-left-arm spinner Theo van Woerkom. Vihari joined Agarwal in the middle and added 73 runs for the third wicket till the Karnataka player was bowled by medium pacer Blair Tickner. Shaw struck six boundaries and a six in his 88-ball stay, while Agarwal hit 10 fours and two sixes. Skipper Rahane did not last long but the duo of Vihari and Patel scored 138-run partnership for the sixth wicket.