BANGALORE, India, CMC – West Indies A were outplayed by India A in the only Twenty20 match of their tour, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday.
After India A set the visitors a 215-run target, the hosts’ bowlers skittled the opposition out for 121 in 16.2 overs. After Yuvraj Singh cracked a half-century and along with quick-fire knocks by Unmukt Chand and Kedar Jadhav and took the team to 214, Rahul Sharma picked a five-wicket haul, while Vinay Kumar and Yuvraj Singh two wickets each.
Earlier, after Yuvraj Singh opted to bat first, Robin Uthappa and Unmukt Chand got the hosts off to a flying start with a 74-run partnership, until Veerasammy Permaul ended the partnership by removing Uthappa. A while later, Ashley Nurse claimed Chand and Baba Aparajith off his consecutive overs to leave India A on 109 for three. However, Captain Yuvraj Singh smashed the ball all over the park, and he was joined by Kedar Jadhav in doing so. The India A captain scored 52 off 35 with three sixes, while Jadhav made 42 off 21.
Andre Russell ended the onslaught by claiming Jadhav, and followed up with three more scalps. Yuvraj Singh was the next to depart off the next ball, while Russell castled Naman Ojha to complete his hat-trick and then bowled the dangerous Yusuf Pathan to claim four off four deliveries and leave the home team on 189 for seven in the penultimate over.
But with eight balls left in the innings, Sumit Narwal (18 off 7) and Vinay Kumar (1) came together to take India to a formidable 214 at the end of the innings. The duo garnered 23 runs off Ronsford Beaton in the last over who after conceding five wides off the first delivery was also clobbered for a boundary and six by Narwal.
Chasing the stiff target, the West Indies A top order collapsed in a heap. Although Andre Fletcher and Kieran Powell collected 19 runs off Pathan in the first over, the visitors could not carry forward the momentum. Vinay Kumar struck in his first over to remove Powell, while a superb running catch by Chand saw the back of Bonner 28 runs later. WI A then lost wickets in a cluster as Rahul Sharma and Yuvraj Singh struck to push the WI A on the back foot.
While Kirk Edwards hit Rahul Sharma to Pathan at mid-off, Jonathan Carter struck Yuvraj Singh to Aparajith at mid-wicket soon after. Sharma then disrupted Fletcher’s woodwork to send the opener back for 32, while the India A captain picked Russell.
With the team struggling on 80-6, Devon Thomas and Nurse then attempted to pull the innings together but were unsuccessful. Their seventh wicket partnership was halted for 35 runs with Nurse holing Sharma out to Uthappa at long-on, while Thomas edged the spinner to the ‘keeper later in the over.
With India firmly in the driver’s seat, Chand caught another skier to send back Permaul in the next over off Vinay Kumar.
Kieran Powell, the West Indies A captain, admitted his team were complacent in the field. “The catching has been a problem since the 3rd one-dayer. After I had the huddle with the guys we got better. I think we were a bit complacent today in the field. It’s one of the things we have to brush up on before the four-day matches. We can’t afford to let them off the hook and we’ve seen what can happen if we do.”
The two teams begin a three-match ‘Test’ series on Wednesday.
Scores: India A 214/7 in 20 overs (Y Singh 52, U Chand 47, K Jadhav 42, A Russell 4/45) beat West Indies A 121 all-out in 16.2 overs (A Fletcher 32, R Sharma 5/23, V Kumar 2/22, Y Singh 2/24) by 93 runs.
