St John’s (Antigua): India A defeated West Indies A by eight wickets on Sunday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground to win the five-match unofficial ODI series 4-1.
Chasing 237, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shubman Gill provided a quickfire start to the team as they stitched together a partnership of 110 runs in just 11.3 overs, but West Indies broke the stand as Kiemo Paul dismissed Gill for 69.
Shreyas Iyer came out to bat next and he along with Gaikwad put up a 112-run stand, which saw both Iyer and Gaikwad bringing up their fifties. Gaikwad (99) was dismissed by Rahkeem Cornwall, but Iyer and skipper Manish Pandey ensured India A’s victory with 8 wickets and 17 overs to spare.
Iyer and Pandey remained unbeaten on 61 and 7 respectively.
Earlier, India A bowlers displayed a spirited performance to restrict West Indies A to 236 runs after being asked to bowl first.
West Indies A had a good opening partnership with Sunil Ambris and Kjorn Ottley putting up a 77-run stand. However, Ottley’s stint at the crease was broken by Navdeep Saini. While Ottley pucked up 21 runs, Ambris played a knock of 61.
After the dismissal of the openers, West Indies batsmen failed to maintain the tempo as they kept on losing wickets and at one stage, the team was wobbling at 124/7.
Shane Rutherford played a knock of 65 runs to take West Indies past the 200-run mark.
Khary Pierre scored 35 runs taking the side to 236 in 50 overs.
Deepak Chahar, Saini and Rahul Chahar scalped two wickets each for India A.
Brief Scores: India A 237/2 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 99, Shubman Gill 69, Kiemo Paul 1-37) defeat West Indies A 236/10 ( Shane Rutherford 65, Sunil Ambris 61, Navdeep Saini 2-31) by eight wickets. (ANI)
