Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav powered his way to an unbeaten 83-ball 93 as India-A recovered from early blows to cruise past Australia’s National Performance Squad by six wickets in the quadrangular 50-over tournament here on Saturday.
With 16 points from five games, India-A is now a firm favourite to make the final.
Put into bat, NPS managed a modest 207 for eight in 50 overs. India reached the target in 38.2 overs thanks to a 135-run fourth-wicket partnership between Jadhav and Shreyas Iyer (62).
Openers Mandeep Singh (4) and Karun Nair (14) and skipper Manish Pandey (10) fell in quick succession before Shreyas and Jadhav joined hands.
While Jadhav hit 10 boundaries, Shreyas showed a different side to his game by dropping anchor, rotating the strike and hitting the occasional boundary.
The scores :
NPS 207 for eight in 50 overs (Sam Harper 72, Clint Hinchliffe 43, Varun Aaron three for 58) lost to India-A 208 for four in 38.2 overs (Kedar Jadhav 93 n.o., Shreyas Iyer 62, Tom O’Donnell four for 28).
