Middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav powered his way to an unbeaten 83-ball 93 as India-A recovered from early blows to cruise past Australia’s National Performance Squad by six wickets in the quadrangular 50-over tournament here on Saturday.
With 16 points from five games, India-A is now a firm favourite to make the final.
Put into bat, NPS managed a modest 207 for eight in 50 overs. India reached the target in 38.2 overs thanks to a 135-run fourth-wicket partnership between Jadhav and Shreyas Iyer (62).
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Openers Mandeep Singh (4) and Karun Nair (14) and skipper Manish Pandey (10) fell in quick succession before Shreyas and Jadhav joined hands.
While Jadhav hit 10 boundaries, Shreyas showed a different side to his game by dropping anchor, rotating the strike and hitting the occasional boundary.
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NPS 207 for eight in 50 overs (Sam Harper 72, Clint Hinchliffe 43, Varun Aaron three for 58) lost to India-A 208 for four in 38.2 overs (Kedar Jadhav 93 n.o., Shreyas Iyer 62, Tom O’Donnell four for 28).