Zol, Nayar hammer tons

Visakhapatnam: It was India ‘A’ all the way on the last day of the three-day match against New Zealand 'A' at the Visakhapatnam Port Stadium here on Friday. Captain Abhishek Nayar led from the front and together with Vijay Zol hit chanceless centuries much to the agony of the fielders who were sent on a leather hunt. The host’s ended at 388/7 in 93.5 overs and the match petered into a tame draw. Soon after Nayyar hit a flowing straight drive off Sodhi to complete his century, just as the sun was setting in, play was called off.

Earlier in the day, Zol was at his scintillating best. His century was laced with 19 hits to the fence. “This century means a lot to me. I took my time and was not worried about scoring quick runs. I decided to treat the ball on merit,” he said later. Zol had four useful partnerships. He put on 77 for the third wicket with Jiwanjyot Singh; 97 for the fourth with Manpreet Juneja, and 60 with Abhishek Nayar for the fifth to wind with another 56-run partnership with C M Goutham for the sixth wicket.

Abhishek Nayar’s attacking knock was the highlight of the day. He hit 14 hits to the ropes and cleared one. His cover drives and sweeps, which saw the ball travel to the boundary, were pleasant to the eye. New Zealand Test quickie Doug Bracewell and Mark Gillespie did well with their spells giving away just 48 and 40 runs respectively. Although, the batting track offered no assistance they did well in the circumstances.

The wicket provided a semblance off assistance to the leg spinners, Todd Astle and Ish Sodhi of Indian origin, who picked up three and two wickets respectively. Brief scores: New Zealand A 1st innings 310 (L Ronchi 125, T Astle 63, J Saxena 6/106, R Dhruve 2/35); India ‘A’ 1st innings-388/7 in 93.5 overs (Jiwanjyot Singh 48, Vijay H Zol 110, Manpreet Juneja 43, Abhishek Nayar 102no, Todd Astle 3/106, Ish Sodhi 2/100).