Faiz Fazal scored a glorious century as India A trounced India B by 87 runs in the final to lift the Deodhar Trophy title at the Green Park here on Friday.
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India A captain Ambati Rayudu's decision to bat first in cold and foggy conditions might have surprised many, but his batsmen rose to the occasion to put up 286 runs on the board. India A pacers, especially Sreenath Aravind and Krishna Das, bowled superbly to restrict India B to 199 with more than nine overs to go.
For India A, Murali Vijay and Fazal, who built a solid 167-run opening partnership, did the bulk of the scoring. Even as India B new ball bowlers, led by the accurate Dhawal Kulkarni, generated good movement, Vijay and Fazal applied themselves well. When conditions improved for batting, they rotated the strike and despatched the loose deliveries to the boundary to accelerate the scoring rate.
Vijay (69) focused hard to overcome his early tentativeness and played some classy strokes on the way to get his half-century. Vijay, who was caught at mid-wicket off Nathu Singh, was the first India A wicket to fall in the 32nd over.
Sixes over long-off to reach fifty and hundred
Fazal, who was bowled on 12 off a Nathu no-ball, batted with a lot of confidence to find the gaps regularly. The Vidarbha southpaw displayed all kinds of shots to gather nine boundaries and three exquisite sixes all around the park. Fazal, who reached his fifty and hundred by hammering sixes over long-off, was run out immediately after reaching his fifth List A century.
India B applied brakes by picking up quick wickets before Kedar Jadhav showcased his finishing skills to notch up a 39-ball unbeaten 58, and took India A to a commanding total. India B's reply was too meek in spite of India A fielders' poor catching.
Under overcast conditions, Aravind and Krishna bowled in rhythm and gave their best to reduce India B to 40 for four in the 11th over. Aravind had Unmukt Chand lbw in the third over after the Delhi opener was let off by Vijay in the previous over.
Swinging the ball wonderfully, Krishna dismissed Mayank, who was grassed by Vijay off Aravind, and Baba Aparajith. Aravind got rid of an aggressive-looking Shreyas Iyer.
Stuart Binny (60) and Suryakumar Yadav (45), who was dropped by Krishna and Shardul Thakur off their own bowling, tried to keep alive the run chase but the writing seemed to be on the wall for India B. Thakur and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem chipped in with two and three wickets respectively to close the India B innings prematurely.
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