Internet Desk: Kedar Jadhav (93*) took India A to a thumping six-wicket win against Australia’s National Performance Squad in the ongoing one-day quadrangular series in Australia. The Manish Pandey-led side won with a bonus point for the second time in the series and qualified for the final.
Chasing 208, India A were left struggling on 41 for the loss of three wickets by Tom O’Donnell. The pacer claimed Mandeep Singh in just the third over of India’s innings and followed it up with wickets of Karun Nair and Manish Pandey.
Jadhav then joined forces with Shreyas Iyer to stabilise the Indian innings and set up the chase. The middle-order batsman, who was in good nick in the rain abandoned game against South Africa A continued from where he had left in the previous game. While the No 3 batsman held up one end, Jadhav took the attack to the NPS bowlers. The pair milked the opposition for singles and twos interspersed with timely boundaries to put together a 135-run partnership and tilt the match in their team’s favour.
With India A 32 runs away from victory, O’Donnell struck once again to send back Iyer and end the flourishing partnership. Hardik Pandya then joined the party and plundered the NPS attack.
Jadhav and Pandya then took India A across the line with 70 balls to spare. O’Donnell took all the four Indian wickets that fell in match.
Earlier, after electing to bowl, Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a maiden first over while Varun Aaron claimed Caleb Jewell to leave NPS on 0/1 to get India A off to a good start. Sam Harper then anchored the innings with a well compiled 72, and Clint Hinchliffe contributed 43 to help NPS to 207 for eight.
Earlier, after electing to bowl, Dhawal Kulkarni bowled a maiden first over while Varun Aaron claimed Caleb Jewell to leave NPS on 0/1 to get India A off to a good start. Sam Harper then anchored the innings with a well compiled 72, and Clint Hinchliffe contributed 43 to help NPS to 207 for eight.
While Varun Aaron claimed three for 58, Pandya, Axar Patel, Jayant Yadav and Iyer picked a wicket each to restrict the opposition.
Brief scores: NPS 207/8 in 50 overs (S Harper 72, C Hinchliffee 43, V Aaron 3/58) lost to India A 208/4 in 38.2 overs (K Jadhav 93*, S Iyer 62, T O’Donnell 4/28) by 6 wickets