Captain Suresh Raina hit form with a masterful 146 as India A set a New Zealand A 355 runs for victory on the penultimate day of the four-day match at the M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Tuesday.
India A, who took an 18-run first innings lead, were all out for 336 in 85 overs, 33 minutes after tea, in t heir second essay, leaving New Zealand the daunting task of battling out a minimum of 90 overs on the Wednesday, the last day of the match.
The hosts could have posted a higher total but for a batting collapse that saw them lose their last five wickets in six overs after being 318 for 5 in the 80th over.
Medium pacer Brent Arnel came up with a late burst to scalp four wickets, including three in an over.
In reply, the Kiwis were 41 for 1 in 18 overs, after losing opener B J Watling (6) to Mohnish Parmar.
Aaron Redmond (25) and their batting mainstay captain Peter Fulton (7) were at the crease at close of play.
Earlier, Raina ended his poor run since the preceding tri-series and dominated the New Zealand bowlers, building three 50-plus partnerships.
Coming in after the fall of overnight batsman Sahil Kukreja (41) with the team score 73 for 2 in the pre-lunch session, Raina was lucky to be dropped by Fulton, on 18, off the bowling of Redmond.
But he never looked back after that and added 83 runs for the third wicket in the company of M Vijay (57), who got out to a wild shot shortly before lunch.
Raina then put on 59 runs for the fifth wicket with Yusuf Pathan (25) and 88 runs for the sixth wicket with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who showed resolve at the wicket while scoring 39.
Raina used his feet well against spinners Nathan McCullum, who claimed six wickets in the first innings, and Redmond, forcing Fulton to go on the defensive in the post-lunch session.
He raced to his half-century off just 50 balls, inclusive of five boundaries and two sixes, before Yusuf Pathan got out in the 63rd over while going for his favourite sweep shot off McCullum.
After crossing the century mark in 107 balls, Raina cut loose and clobbered Redmond for five sixes in a row in the long-on region in the 71st over.
However, he was out in the second over after tea, holing out to Marshall at deep midwicket off McCullum, trying to go over the ropes in the 80th over.
Then came the dream spell from Arnel. He trapped Amit Mishra and Parmar leg-before with the first two balls of the 83rd over. Dinda denied him a hat-trick but departed three balls later, castled by a good length ball.
Arnel struck again in his next over to dismiss Saha. His last spell read 7-2-16-4.
Scorecard
India A (1st innings): 248
New Zealand A (1st innings): 230
India A (2nd innings): (overnight 27/1)
Sahil Kukreja c Young b Boult 41
Shikar Dhawan c Redmond b Boult 7
M Vijay c Fulton b Redmond 57
Suresh Raina c Marshall b McCullum 146
Jaydev Shah c Young b Redmond 7
Yusuf Pathan c Watling b McCullum 25
Wriddhiman Saha b Arnel 39
Amit Mishra LBW Arnel 3
Mohnish Parmar LBW Arnel 0
Ashok Dinda b Arnel 0
Sudeep Tyagi not out 0
Extras: (B-4, LB-3, NB-2, W-2) 11
Total: (all out in 85 overs) 336
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-73, 3-156, 4-171, 5-230, 6-318, 7-329, 8-329, 9-329
Bowling: Michael Mason 13-3-25-0; Trent Boult 12-4-34-2; Brent Arnel 13-3-38-4; Nathan McCullum 28-3-118-2; Aaron Redmond 12-0-92-2; Neil Broom 7-1-22-0.
New Zealand A (2nd innings):
Aaron Redmond batting 25
B J Watling LBW Parmar 6
Peter Fulton batting 7
Extras: (LB-1, NB-2) 3
Total: (for one wicket in 18 overs) 41
Fall of wickets: 1-22.
Bowling: Ashok Dinda 4-0-7-0; Sudeep Tyagi 3-0-11-0; Mohnish Parmar 6-3-9-1 ;Amit Mishra 5-1-13-0.
