Jaiswal's Red-Ball Slump Deepens With Four-Ball Duck in Christchurch

Yashasvi Jaiswal's difficult red-ball run continued on Saturday, when the India opener was dismissed for a four-ball duck on the first day of the second unofficial Test against New Zealand A at Hagley Oval in Christchurch. New Zealand A chose to bowl first, and seamer Fraser Sheat trapped the left-hander leg before wicket in the opening over. It was Jaiswal's third successive failure on this tour, after scores of 17 and 5 in the first unofficial Test at Lincoln, and he has now gone without a red-ball half-century since August. Earlier this month he also made a 13-ball duck for Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy season opener against Chandigarh. India A found some stability through Devdutt Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan, who added 91 for the second wicket before Sudharsan fell for 41. Padikkal scored 80 from 140 balls before departing, and the visitors slipped to 137 for 5 as New Zealand A's seamers, led by Sheat, kept striking. Captain Dhruv Jurel then led the recovery with an unbeaten 99, supported by Akash Deep on 25 not out, as India A reached 291 for 7 at stumps on day one. With a two-match Test series against New Zealand beginning at Wellington's Basin Reserve on November 19, and Jaiswal already left out of India's ODI squad for the series starting on November 4, his form has become one of the tour's biggest talking points.