India, Oct. 28 -- After the India A batting line-up consisting of Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar collapsed to 113 all out in 38.3 overs on Day 1 of their shadow tour of New Zealand last week, there were concerns for the two Test series India will play next month. After all, five of the six batters mentioned are first-choice Test batters.

After such a disastrous performance in the first innings, the visitors' camp needed someone to show the way. Padikkal took it upon himself with a superb 199 to help India amass 516 in the second innings, which put them in a dominating position and almost got them a win but for rain and bad light in the end.

Scoring runs at home is fine, but...