Badrinath guides India A to 3 wicket win over NZ

Darwin, July 14 (UNI) Subramaniam Badrinath scored his second half century of the match as India A survived early jitters to beat New Zealand A by three wickets in a four-day Top End Cricket Series tie here today.

Chasing a modest 205 for victory, India A were precariously positioned at 44 for four when Badrinath dropped the anchor to guide his team to a win with his unbeaten 70.

Badrinath made 55 in the first innings.

Tejinder Pal Singh came close to a half century, scoring 46 before he was bowled by Jeetan Patel. India A went on to lose two more wickets in quick succession but Piyush Chawla came handy with the bat and scored an unbeaten 26 to see his team through.

Patel was the best of the Kiwi bowling attack, snaring three wickets for 46 runs.

Earlier resuming at an overnight score of one, India A had a horrible start when Cheteshwar Pujara (2) departed with just five on the scoreboard after a mix up with fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Robin Uthappa's struggle for form continued in the second essay and Hopkins caught him off Bennett at an individual score of 8.

Even Dhawan could not prolong his stay and was back in the pavilion after playing Patel on the pads in front of the wicket. He made 15.

Skipper Pathiv Patel (8) was unimpressive too and was undone by Orchard to give the Indian dressing room some butterflies in stomach.

Scorecard: New Zealand A first innings (332 all out) India A first innings (280 all out) New Zealand A second innings (153 all out) India A second innings: C Pujara run out 2 S Dhawan lbw b Patel 15 R Uthappa c Hopkins b Bennett 9 P Patel c Papps b Orchard 8 S Badrinath not out 70 T P Singh b Patel 46 R Sharma c Hopkins b S Martin 22 R S Sodhi c Nicol b Patel 1 Piyush Chawla not out 26 Extras (B 6, LB 3, NB 1) 10 Total (seven wickets, 68.4 overs) 209 FoW 1/5, 2/20, 3/34, 4/44, 5/138, 6/170, 7/175.

Bowling C Martin 19 1 48 1 Bennett 7 0 18 1 Patel 20 0 46 3 Orchard 10 0 23 1 BP Martin 12.4 0 65 0 UNI XC DH HT1632