With an 86-run victory against the National Performance Squad, India ‘A’ climbed to the top of the points table of the ongoing one-day quadrangular series in Australia. After the Karun Nair-led line-up set the opposition an imposing 305-run target, the Dhawal Kulkarni (3/38) and Jaydev Unadkat-led (3/43) attack bowled NPS out for 218 with 16 balls to spare to claim victory with a bonus point.
Although Unadkat forced an edge from Caleb Jewell in the third over to give India ‘A’ an early breakthrough, Hilton Cartwright found an able ally in Sam Heazlett. The pair added 108 runs for the second wicket until Yuzvendra Chahal claimed the opener, Cartwright for 65. Nine runs later, Axar Patel accounted for the No 3 batsman to leave NPS on 130 for three. Having wrested the advantage back, the Indians continued to strike and tighten their grip on the game. Kulkarni disrupted Sam Harper’s stumps while the leg-spinner claimed Matthew and Hardik Pandya accounted for Arjun Nair to reduce the opposition to 176 for six. 26 runs later, Kulkarni dealt a double blow - claiming Josh Inglis and Michael Neser off successive deliverers to put India ‘A’ firmly in the driver’s seat. His bowling partner, Unadkat then claimed the remaining two wickets to take the team to the finish line.
Earlier, asked to bat, the India ‘A’ batsman put forth a formidable performance to post a match-winning total on the board. While they lost Faiz Fazal with 30 runs on the board, Karun Nair anchored the innings while the rest of the batsmen made valuable contributions to set-up the game for the team.
After a diving catch by Short at gully sent back Fazal, Shreyas Iyer, playing his first game of the tour joined forces with Karun Nair to give the team a platform to build on. The duo added 74 runs for the second wicket until the No 3 bat was sent back by David Grant, five runs short of a half-century. Pandey, who then came to the crease scored at run-a-ball to keep the momentum going before returning to the dressing room for 31.
Karun Nair, who had steadfastly held-up one end, was then joined by Kedar Jadhav in keeping the innings on course. However, the opener’s knock was ended for 72 by Arjun Nair. Sanju Samson, who replaced him in the middle, helped Jadhav in adding runs at a quick pace. After the middle-order batsman’s departure, the wicketkeeper-batsman continued to take on the bowlers as he brought up his half-century. He slammed Grant for successive sixes en route his 54 off 42 balls. Patel too chipped in with a quick 7-ball 15 to take India ‘A’ past the 300-run mark before returning to the dug-out with three balls left in the innings. Pandya and Kulkarni then took the team to 304 at the end of their innings.
Brief scores: India ‘A’ 304/7 in 50 overs (K Nair 72, S Samson 54, S Iyer 45, K Jadhav 45, T O’Donnell 2/46, M Neser 2/65) beat NPS 218/10 in 46 overs (H Cartwright 65, S Heazlett 60, D Kulkarni 3/38, J Unadkat 3/48, Y Chahal 2/45) by 86 runs
