Devdutt Padikkal fell one run short of a double hundred, but his 199 turned India A's match in Lincoln around. In Wellington, India go for the T20I series against New Zealand today. Also: Bumrah and Pant join India A, three Ranji hundreds on day one, and Mohammed Shami on his India hopes.
1. Padikkal 199: India A go into the last day 284 ahead
India A trailed New Zealand A by 204 on first innings and were 10/2 in their second. On day three they reached 488/8 in 119 overs, a lead of 284 with the final day to come. Devdutt Padikkal made 199 off 248 balls before he was given caught behind down the leg side off Zak Gibson, a decision he did not agree with. Sai Sudharsan made 91, Yash Rathod 66 and Washington Sundar is 51*. Why it matters: both Padikkal and Sai Sudharsan want a top-order place for the Test series against New Zealand. In our 26 October snapshot, Padikkal has 418 Test runs at 69.66 in four Tests, with a best of 167. Sai Sudharsan has 383 at 31.91 in seven, best 87.
2. Wellington today: India 2-0 up and one win from the series
India lead the five-match series 2–0 after two four-wicket wins in Christchurch (1st T20I, 2nd T20I). A win at the Basin Reserve today seals it. Crickrida's scorecards show India's men have not lost any of their last nine T20Is in New Zealand: six wins and three ties, two of them won in Super Overs. Their last T20I in Wellington was one of those, in January 2020. The last defeat there was in Hamilton in February 2019. The second game was won by an unbroken 69 off 30 balls between Tilak Varma (51*) and Nithish Kumar Reddy (26*). Wind across the ground is the main worry for both sides.
3. The numbers to watch: Phillips v the top three, and Bhuvneshwar
Glenn Phillips has 152 runs in the series (82* and 70). Seifert, Allen and Mitchell have 126 between them in two games. For India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, back in the T20I side after four years, has gone for 99 runs in eight overs (0/49 and 1/50), with one wicket. Arshdeep Singh has three wickets for 78. India's bowling coach has backed Bhuvneshwar to find his rhythm with more games. New Zealand are resting Lockie Ferguson and Matt Henry. See men's T20I most wickets.
4. Bumrah and Pant added to India A
Jasprit Bumrah is expected to play the third unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Lincoln next month. Rishabh Pant is also in the squad, subject to fitness clearance. Both are training in Bengaluru. Why it matters: it is a red-ball run-out before the senior Test series. In our snapshot Bumrah has 234 Test wickets at 19.79, and Pant has 3,725 Test runs with eight hundreds. Compare: Bumrah v Anderson.
5. Ranji Trophy round three, day one: Mumbai's twin hundreds
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (114) and Musheer Khan (109) took Mumbai to 290/3 against Haryana. In Ranchi, Ayush Badoni is 106* in Delhi's 309/5 against Jharkhand. Baroda's Priyanshu Moliya is 113* against Jammu & Kashmir. In Chennai, Railways were 7/3 before No. 8 Zubair Ali Khan's 75 took them to 184, and Tamil Nadu closed on 71/3. Uttarakhand's Devendra Bora took 6/72 against Rajasthan.
Also
Mohammed Shami, left out of the squads for the New Zealand tour, says he is "still at my peak" and has not given up on playing for India again. He last played for India at the 2025 Champions Trophy. He has 229 Test wickets in 64 matches and 206 ODI wickets in 108 (men's Test most wickets). IPL franchises now have a retention deadline before the mini-auction in Goa. India women, 2–0 up after Harmanpreet Kaur's 126 in the second game, play the third ODI against Zimbabwe on Wednesday.
Read the previous note
Yesterday's note: Harmanpreet, Deepti tons seal India 2-0; Shadab stuns England.
The figures behind the infographic
| Statistic | Devdutt Padikkal | Sai Sudharsan | Rishabh Pant | Jasprit Bumrah | Mohammed Shami |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 4 | 7 | 52 | 52 | 64 |
| Runs | 418 | 383 | 3725 | 348 | 750 |
| Batting average | 69.66 | 31.91 | 43.82 | 6.56 | 12.09 |
| Highest | 167 | 87 | 159* | 34* | 56* |
| Hundreds | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Wickets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 234 | 229 |
| Best bowling | - | - | - | 6/27 | 6/56 |
Compare two international careers · Devdutt Padikkal profile · Sai Sudharsan profile · Rishabh Pant profile · Jasprit Bumrah profile · Mohammed Shami profile · Create your own visual
News items come from the day's cricket coverage. Scores appear only when two reports agree or a report matches Crickrida's data. The two reports differed on India A's lead, so it is worked out from the agreed scores (113 + 488 − 317 = 284). Where they differed on other details (Padikkal's boundary count, one Ranji bowling figure and one Ranji score), we left those out. Fixture details reported by only one source are given without dates. The T20I figures (Phillips, the top three, Bhuvneshwar, Arshdeep and the Tilak–Nithish stand) and India's record in New Zealand come from Crickrida's scorecards. Shami's wickets match our data. Career figures are from Crickrida's 26 October 2026 snapshot. Batting average = runs ÷ dismissals.