Indian Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane hit a century for India A on the final day of the second and final unofficial Test (four-day) against the hosts New Zealand A.
Monday (10th February) was the last day of this two-match unofficial Test series, and the Indian batsmen dominated the day. While Shubman Gill scored a century on the third day of this game, Ajinkya Rahane hit a ton on the final day.
In the reply of New Zealand A’s first innings total of 386/9 (decl.), India A started the final day on their overnight score 234/1. Starting the day on 107 runs, Shubman Gill added 29 more runs (136) before losing his wicket. Another overnight unbeaten batsman Cheteshwar Pujara only added one run on the final day before losing his wicket on 53 runs.
Ajinkya Rahane and Vijay Shankar were the stars of the day
But for the fourth wicket, Ajinkya Rahane and Vijay Shankar put the 120 runs partnership. While Shankar completed his half-century in 79 balls, Rahane reached it in 86 balls. After scoring 66 runs, Shankar was caught out to the wicketkeeper Dane Cleaver.
However, Rahane continued his positive batting till the end of the day. The right-handed batsman completed his century in 148 balls with a boundary, and it was the last action of the game. Rahane remained not out on 101 runs (15 fours and one six), and Ravichandran Ashwin was unbeaten on just one run. India finished the day on 467/5 with the lead of 81 runs.
On the final ball before the tea, wicketkeeper KS Bharat lost his wicket on 22 runs. The third session of the day ran for only 3.3 overs.
Earlier on the day three, captain Hanuma Vihari opened with Shubman Gill. While they had the 111 runs partnership for the opening wicket, Vihari scored 59 runs. It was the positive practice game for the India A cricketers as some of them will take part in the upcoming two-match Test series against the hosts New Zealand, starting on 21st February.
The unofficial two-match Test series remained 0-0 as the first game of this series also had the same draw results.