Ashok Menaria produced an all-round show as India A scored a convincing six-wicket victory over New Zealand A in the second one-dayer to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match unofficial ODI series here today.
Menaria weaved his magic at the Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy stadium to return with figures of 10-0-38-5 to help India A dismiss New Zealand A for 216 in 47.2 overs before smashing an unbeaten 37 to pocket the series for the hosts.
Apart from Menaria, Dhawal Kulkarni scalped two wickets, while Basant Mohanty and Sandeep Sharma took one wicket each after skipper Unmukt Chand won the toss and elected to field.
Chasing the modest target, the hosts rode on individual fifties by Chand (59) and Mandeep Singh (59) to overhaul New Zealand A’s score with 11.1 overs to spare.
Chand and Mandeep stitched 89 runs off 103 balls for the third wicket to lay the foundation for the chase.
Kedar Jadhav (30) and Maneria (37 off 30) then finished the job for India A, stitching an unbeaten 53—run stand in 45 balls.
Earlier, Carl Cachopa top-scored for New Zealand A with a 103-ball 80, which was studded with nine boundaries.
However, the 27-year-old South Africa-born cricketer didn’t get much support from the other end as the Kiwis found the going tough against an inspired Indian bowling attack from the onset.
Brief Scores:
New Zealand A: 216 all out in 47.2 overs (Carl Cachopa 80; Ashok Menaria 5/38)
India A: 217 for four in 38.5 overs (Unmukt Chand 59, Mandeep Singh 59; Mark Gillespie 2/62)
