Victory in sight for India 'A' against New Zealand 'A'

MELBOURNE: India 'A' wrapped up New Zealand A's second innings for 153 to set themselves a victory target of 206 on the third day of the four-day match in the Top End cricket series at Darwin on Thursday.

At stumps, India A were one for no loss with C Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan at the crease.

Earlier, New Zealand's off-spinner Jeetan Patel took four for 68, which also included his 100th first-class wicket, to dismiss the Indians early in the day for 280 in 73 overs after they resumed at the overnight score of 209 for six in their first innings.

Overnight batsmen Tejinder Pal Singh and Rohit Sharma went on to score 85 and 57 respectively but the Indians still ended up conceding a 52-run first innings lead.

But the Indians hit back through paceman Rudra Pratap Singh who claimed four for 33 in 18 overs. He gave an early breakthrough to his team by removing opener Matthew Papps when New Zealand A's score was six. Trivedi struck immediately and dismissed M Bell for a duck.

R P Singh also cut short the stint of R J Nicol, who remained the top scorer with 55 while Matthew Sinclair was the other notable scorer with 33.

Piyush Chawla and Pujara picked two wickets each.