Rightio, yes Aotearoa A got touched up by India A. In a game where Aotearoa scored 147 and 142, the highest individual knocks were Tim Seifert's first innings 35 and George Worker's second innings 35. Worker also scored a first innings 33, which was cool, but we're not youngins' celebrating scores of 30 (then retire) anymore. This is big boy cricket and Aotearoa showed why more A tours and more age-group tours are required as they were yeah, touched up in foreign conditions.

That's kinda the norm, again highlighting a lack of investment in the development of our cricketers. Karn Sharma and Shahbaz Nadeem did most of the damage, each taking 4 wickets in either innings, thus finishing with 8-wicket hauls for the game. And yup, you already know that Sharma's a leggy and Nadeem is a left-arm tweaker, so of the possible 20 kiwi wickets, 16 were taken by spinners.

Flip that for Aotearoa and we do have some positives as although India only batted once, they were dismissed for 320 and Ish Sodhi was the chief-destroyer. Sodhi took a 5-for and bowled a hefty stint, 22 overs while Todd Astle also chipped in with 2 wickets but only bowled 10.2 overs. Sodhi conceded 4.27rpo and he dismissed five of India's top-six batsmen.

George Worker's tweakers also nabbed a wicket, while Lockie Ferguson and Scott Kuggeleijn took a wicket each as well. Ferguson bowled the most overs of the seamers with 13, as Kuggeleijn and Matt Henry both bowled 9 over. Kuggeleijn also managed to bowl 7 no-balls; nice of him to boost India's total by a few more runs.

Sodhi's performance is the major take-away here and he'll almost certainly be joining the Blackcaps when they arrive to take on India. However, what will be interesting is how India's batsmen approach Sodhi now that they have seen, faced and discussed how Sodhi operates. India only got one look at Sodhi and couldn't make any adjustments in their second innings (they were too good for a second dig), so whether Sodhi can be as effective in the next four-dayer is the question.

Tom Blundell and Tim Seifert both played, Blundell batting at No.5 and Seifert No.6, while Seifert was wicket-keeper. 

Jeet Raval didn't dominate and as a Blackcaps Test opener, we'd hope he would dominate. Raval scored 34 and 21, which was solid given the circumstance but yeah, not much. Interestingly, Worker scored his runs in partnering Raval at the top of the order and they were the only batsmen to pass 20 in both innings.

Henry Nicholls was given the captaincy and the No.3 spot, a fairly low key nod at his Blackcaps future. Nicholls didn't respond though with scores of 5 and 1, which if compounded with another lacklustre performance in the second game, could see him struggle to push his case for higher honours. When given an opportunity to skipper and bat No.3, you've got to take it and Nicholls' Blackcaps inconsistency isn't helped by this game. One game though, see what happens in the second.

Sean Solia, Seth Rance and Colin Munro weren't used in this game. If Rance is to get a run, he could replace Kuggeleijn, while Solia and/or Munro could step in for Will Young (batted No.4) and/or one of the wicket-keepers. 

The next game is due to start on September 30.

Peace and love 27.

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