From correspondents in Tamil Nadu, India, 04:00 PM IST

India A batsmen made a mess of a good start and went to tea at 210 for six against New Zealand A on the first day of the four-day match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here Sunday.

Yusuf Pathan (44), skipper Suresh Raina (21) and Jaydev Shah (38) all settled down but virtually gifted their wickets attempting big strokes.

Pathan, in particular, was going great guns but holed out in the deep while trying to hit off-spinner Nathan McCullum out of the ground.

McCullum, bowling rather flat and occasionally tossing the ball up, came away with four wickets as he bowled unchanged between lunch and tea.

India opted to bat and Murali Vijay played a solid knock of 43 before edging off-spinner Nathan McCullum to the lone slip Aaron Redmond.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)