Debutants Patidar, Tilak Varma smash centuries on India A debut, match with NZ A ends in draw

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 4 : Centuries from debutants Tilak Varma and Rajat Patidar were major highlights for India A as their first four-day game against New Zealand A ended in a draw at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday.
The three-match four-game series between both sides is currently 0-0. Joe Carter's fantastic 197 powered New Zealand to 400 in the first innings before they ran out of batters. Medium pacer Mukesh Kumar took a five-wicket haul, taking 5/86.
In reply, India posted a fine 571/6 and declared their innings. Centuries from Abhimanyu Easwaran (132), Rajat Patidar (176) and Tilak Varma (121) gave India a 171-run lead over New Zealand A.
New Zealand A was at 133/4 in 61 overs before the match was drawn, with Cam Fletcher (14*) and Sean Solia (10*). Kuldeep Yadav took a solid 2/38 in the second innings.
Opting to bat first, NZ A were not off a solid start as Mukesh and Arzan Nagwaswalla, two medium pacers quickly took out openers Chad Bowes (5) and Rachin Ravindra (12), reducing the visitors to 2/28.
Joe Carter and Mark Chapman tried rebuilding the innings, but the latter fell to pacer Yash Dayal for 15. Robert ODonnell, the skipper put on a 49-run stand with Carter, before being trapped lbw by Mukesh for 24. NZ A was 100/4.
Carter continued to keep going from the other end, forming a valuable stand with wicketkeeper-batter Cam Fletcher (13) and Sean Solia (32), with stand with Solia being an 87-run one. Mukesh took wickets of both Fletcher and Solia. New Zealand at this point was 236/6.
A 61-run stand between Carter and bowling all-rounder Michael Rippon helped the team cross the 300-run mark. Sarfaraz Khan dismissed Rippon for 21.
After a 35-run stand with Logan van Beek (19) who was trapped by Mukesh as his fifth victim, Carter was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav for 197, falling three runs short of a double hundred. The score at this point was 361/9. Then, Joe Walker (22) and Jacob Duffy (17*) took the team to the 400-run mark before Sarfaraz trapped Walker, bundling out NZ A for 400.
Mukesh was the standout bowler with 5/86. Sarfaraz took 2/32 while Yash, Nagwaswalla and Kuldeep took one scalp each.
Captain Priyank Panchal and Abhimanyu Easwaran got India A to a fine start, adding 123 for the opening wicket. Panchal fell to Ravindra's spin at 47, giving NZ A their first wicket. After this, Ruturaj Gaikwad also fell for 21 runs to Ravindra and India was at 157/2.
Then, Easwaran and debutant Patidar put on a 104-run stand for the third wicket, and the former hit a century. Easwaran was bowled by Rippon for 132.
Sarfaraz Khan was the next batter and struck a 64-run stand with Patidar. Jacob Duffy dismissed him for 36. India A was 325/4 at this point.
Tilak Varma and Patidar then unleashed a wide variety of shots and made New Zealand A toil really hard. The visitors had no answer for their hitting. The duo had developed a stand of 186-runs and had brought up their amazing centuries in their debut match. Patidar fell to Van Beek after being caught by Joe Walker for 176. India at this point was 511/5.
Srikar Bharat, the keeper-batter and Varma took India over 550-run mark. with Varma falling to Solia for a well-made 121.
India declared their innings at 571/6, with Bharat (23*) and Kuldeep Yadav (8*) at the crease.
Rachin Ravindra (2/112) was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand A. Duffy, Beek, Solia and Rippon took one each. India A had a 171-run lead in the game.
With a healthy 171-run lead in the end, Team India struggled to dismiss the openers till a 51-run stand was made between Bowes and Ravindra. Kuldeep dismissed Bowes for 24. Ravindra fell shortly to Yash Dayal for 40, reducing the hosts to 75/2, still trailing by 96 runs.
Carter (14) and Chapman (23) fell quickly to Nagwaswalla and Kuldeep respectively. The NZ A team was at 100/4 at this point, trailing by 71 runs.
Fletcher (14*) and Solia (10*) took the team to 133/4 before the match ended in a draw.