India A were trailing by 343 runs in the first innings with eight wickets in hand when play ended on Day 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Earlier, New Zealand A posted 437 runs in their first innings.

After adding 137 runs to NZ A’s overnight total, Doug Bracewell and Ish Sodhi departed off successive overs to mark the end of the visitors’ first innings for a healthy 437 runs, in the second session. With a 162-run partnership, the lower-order batsmen took their team to a comfortable position in the four-day match. Resuming on 300 for eight, the duo batted through the first session of the day, taking the team to 426 for eight at lunch. But in the second session, Bracewell was castled by India A captain Abhishek Nayar, four runs short of a well-deserved century. Meanwhile, Sodhi was dismissed by Dhawal Kulkarni in the next for 57 runs.

India lost opener Unmukt Chand and Vijay Zol early in the innings. Chand was caught by the ‘keeper off Mark Gillespie for four runs, which came in the form of a boundary. He was soon followed back into the hut by India A’s centurion in the previous match, Zol, for two; the youngster was sent back by Bracewell in the 13th over.

With India on 16 for two, Manprit C Juneja joined VA Jagadeesh in the middle to take the Indian innings forward. Their partnership was still thriving on 78 when stumps were called. Jagadeesh was unbeaten on 40, while Juneja was still at the crease on 43 when play ended.

Brief scores:

Day 1 – New Zealand A 1st innings 300/8 in 89 overs (A Devcich 115, C Anderson 100, D Kulkarni 2/26, J Saxena 2/69)

Day 2 – New Zealand A 1st innings 437 all-out in 121.1 overs overs (D Bracewell 96, I Sodhi 57); India A 1st innings94/2 in 38 overs (VA Jagddeesh 40*, MC Juneja 43*; M Gillespie 1/11, D Bracewell 1/23)