Kedar Jadhav’s commanding knock of 91 not out and Ambati Rayudu and Faiz Fazal’s useful half-centuries enabled India-A to register a convincing six-wicket win over Gujarat and enter the Deodhar Trophy final at the Green Park here on Wednesday.
Opting to field, India-A stopped Gujarat at 272 and overhauled the target with more than two overs to spare to set up a title clash with India-B on Friday.
Gujarat was boosted by the return of Parthiv Patel and Axar Patel and rode on the wicketkeeper-batsman’s masterly century. However, other Gujarat batsmen could not rise to the occasion to capitalise on their skipper’s good work as the team managed to score only 272.
Recovering from a bout of fever, Parthiv partnered with Priyank Panchal (26) to add 81 runs for the opening stand.
Judicious mixParthiv mixed aggression with caution and never lost a chance when the ball was in his favourite areas. The southpaw cut, flicked and drove on either side to get some well-timed boundaries. Parthiv, who was let off by Sudip Chatterjee off Pervez Rasool on 68, went on to score his second successive 100 before being caught by Kedar Jadhav off Siddharth Kaul.Bowling in the death overs, Amit Mishra captured three wickets on the strength of his variations. Rasool bowled accurately to claim three top-order batsmen.
Watchful knockIn reply, India-A gained from opener Faiz Fazal's (53) solid temperament and good technique. Even though the team lost Murali Vijay and Chatterjee for 49, Fazal played watchfully scoring off wayward deliveries and defending the good ones. Fazal, who was caught in the slips, and captain Ambati Rayudu (75) collected 75 runs for the third wicket to keep India-A in the hunt.
Rayudu joined forces with Jadhav to script a perfect run-chase. Jadhav clinically whipped the Gujarat bowlers all over the ground for 11 fours and two straight sixes. Jadhav and Naman Ojha scored 66 runs for the fifth wicket to see India-A home.
The scores:
Gujarat: Parthiv Patel c Jadhav b Kaul 119, Priyank Panchal c Ojha b Shardul 26, Manpreet Juneja c Chatterjee b Rasool 17, Chirag Gandhi c Rasool b Fazal 11, Rujul Bhatt c Rayudu b Rasool 7, Axar Patel b Rasool 13, Raxlee Taylor lbw b Mishra 15, Rush Kalaria c Ojha b Arvind 3, Kavish Panchal st Ojha b Mishra 17, Santosh Shinde c Shardul b Mishra 28, Mehul Patel (not out) 2; Extras (lb-6, w-8): 14; Total (in 49.2 overs): 272.
Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-141, 3-155, 4-166, 5-188, 6-222, 7-222, 8-240, 9-262.
India-A bowling: Shardul Thakur 9-0-60-1, Sreenath Arvind 10-1-51-1, Siddharth Kaul 9-0-45-1, Amit Mishra 9.2-0-48-3, Pervez Rasool 9-0-47-3, Faiz Fazal 3-0-15-1.
India-A: Faiz Fazal c Priyank b Mehul 53, M. Vijay c Gandhi b Mehul 18, Sudip Chatterjee st Parthiv b Bhatt 6, Ambati Rayudu (run out) 75, Kedar Jadhav (not out) 91, Naman Ojha (not out) 26; Extras (lb-2, w-2): 4; Total (for four wkts. in 47.2 overs): 273.
Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-49, 3-124, 4-207.
Gujarat bowling: Rush Kalaria 9.2-0-44-0, Mehul Patel 9-0-53-2, Rujul Bhatt 9-0-47-1, Santosh Shinde 9-0-74-0, Axar Patel 10-1-43-0, Priyank Panchal 1-0-10-0.
Toss: India-A.
