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 restricted Gujarat to 272 and overhauled the target with more than two overs to spare to set up a title clash with India-B.
Skipper returns
Gujarat was boosted by the return of Parthiv Patel and Axar Patel, and rode on the wicketkeeper-batsman’s masterly century to post a fighting aggregate. However, other Gujarat batsmen could not rise to the occasion to capitalise on their skipper’s good work.
Recovering from a bout of fever, Parthiv partnered with Priyank Panchal (26) to add 81 runs for the opening stand. He built two more partnerships worth 60 and 34 with Manpreet Juneja (17) and Raxlee Taylor (15) respectively to take his team to a sound position.
Parthiv 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.
>Full scorecard and ball-by-ball details
After Parthiv’s dismissal, Gujarat scored 50 runs from the last seven overs.
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.
In 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. The duo changed ends frequently besides playing the big shots.
Rayudu hit some crisp fours and a six in 180 degrees. He was run out off a direct throw by Axar from the boundary.
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.
Axar was the lone Gujarat bowler to keep the rival batsmen in check.
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